Matt's Story: Traveling the Path of Radiance
by Badiak
Summary: I'm Matt. Matt Wilson. I was a 16-year-old boy like any other: football player, track runner, gifted singer, black belt and soon-to-be eagle scout. My life had few extraordinary events, until a series of events brought me to certain death, then a void, and then onto the continent of Tellius. Earth is in the past, and my future now hinges on how I react to the events that follow.
1. Prologue I: Departure

AN: I don't really feel inspired to write a particularly long author's note here. This is just my first fic, the writing quality probably won't be up to the standards that many of you are used to, but it should improve as the story goes along.

Maybe a self-insertion story of Fire Emblem 9 & 10 is ambitious for a first fic, but I appreciate that. It's something that'll hopefully hold my attention for a long time, since I'm really going to need something to kill time with for the next few months. Or years. The story will probably take that long to finish. I do intend on finishing it. As for the plot, I have a rough idea in my head, but I'll mostly be making it up as I go along.

I've digressed long enough. I'd greatly appreciate reviews for this chapter. As an old adage goes: "the biggest improvement is between game one and game two".

With that last bit out of the way, here's the story.

* * *

Prologue I: Departure

"This should be the last attack . . . and that'll do it! My RD bonus playthrough is officially complete!" I inhaled deeply, set the GCN wireless controller on the floor in front of me and leaned back into the couch.

"So you finished Path of Radiance a sixteenth time, Matt. Congratulations. What a great accomplishment. Would you like a cookie?" Nate's sarcasm was palpable. I just flipped him the bird and nodded my head in response.

"Okay man, I see how it is. I'll get you your damn cookie. Maybe a Coke while I'm at it. You want one?"

"Sounds good." I replied. Nate got off of the couch and walked upstairs to my kitchen to fetch my prize. That sixteenth playthrough was a tough little bugger: I was trying to max out all of the characters that I wanted to give bonuses to in my first Radiant Dawn playthrough. I had yet to even touch Radiant Dawn: the case was sitting on the coffee table in front of me, still wrapped in the plastic that I bought it in. But now when I do start a game, I'll do so with bonuses applied to Ike, Soren, Oscar, Boyd, Rolf, Kieran, Nephenee, Volke and Zihark. Balancing the experience to carry nine players to level 20 on hard mode wasn't easy, but I was sure it would pay off at the next level.

"You going to actually play Radiant Dawn now, or just sit there and bask in the glory of victory a little longer?" Nate said as he came back down the stairs, two 16 oz. Cokes and a box of Oreo cookies in hand. It was nice to have a friend who came over and not only was willing to just watch you play Fire Emblem for an extended period of time, but also fetch you snacks when they were called for.

"Nah, I think I'll just spend a few more minutes basking."

"You open that case right now or your Coke is mine." Nate said, as he unscrewed the lids to both bottles.

"Damn it Nate, give me the Coke!" I reached over to pull the bottle out of his hand, which he allowed me to take without a fight. As soon as I settled back into my seat, however, I felt my iPhone vibrating in my pocket. I checked the contact who was calling me: it was DJ, a friend of mine from the male acapella group I was in, who was two years older than I was. I picked up and put the phone on speaker, wondering why DJ would be calling me right now.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Dude, where are you?" DJ responded. I could hear a small amount of anxiety in his voice. Wherever he was, I was definitely supposed to be there, and not killing time playing Fire Emblem. Probably a concert practice. I tend to forget about most of those.

"...We're supposed to be having a practice session right now, aren't we?" At that response, I could hear laughter from the other end. Which meant I was right. Forgetting about such things was a habit of mine, and one that the other guys found funny for whatever reason.

"Okay man, I'll be there in a sec, k? My bad." There wasn't any question about it: this practice was a much higher priority then starting Radiant Dawn right now. Especially with the winter concert being a week-and-a-half away.

"Sure thing man. And do you know where Nate is? He's not here either. Pretty sure he forgot." At that, Nate grimaced. He wasn't known for taking very many things seriously, but even he knew that we had screwed up something big by forgetting about this.

"Yeah man, he's with me. I can bring him, I got my license last week."

"Awesome. See you in a minute dude." And with that, DJ hung up.

Nate and I looked at each other, grabbed our Cokes, and started running up the stairs and out of the house to my driveway. We got into my new Honda CR-V and I turned on the ignition. It had been a particularly bad winter so far, and the roads had been icy enough that school had been closed the past three days. In addition to that, I lived on the side of a mountain in the midst of a large forest, where icy roads in conjunction with steep declines and a large amount of trees made any small screw-up in driving potentially lethal. I briefly reconsidered the merits of trying to attend this practice, but killed such thoughts immediately: the group wasn't big enough to afford missing two members during a practice. I pulled out of the driveway and started driving down the mountain. Nate and I were still soundless.

The first thing that I saw when I started driving was glare from the sun reflecting off the snow-covered trees into my eyes. I winced, pulled down my visor and continued driving slowly. The left turn ahead was particularly dangerous in weather like this, and I couldn't let anything impair my driving while attempting to navigate it. As I approached the turn, I was still in control of my vehicle, and liked my chances of getting through the turn safely.

Then, without warning, a deer ran across the road in front of me. My knee-jerk reaction was to slam on the brakes and turn hard to the left. Bad move. The deer ran across the road untouched, but I had lost control of the vehicle: the momentum of my forward movement had moved to the back of the CR-V, which the ice combined with gravity was now pulling off of the road to the right.

"Get out of the car. GET OUT OF THE CAR, NOW!" Nate screamed next to me, as he opened his door and jumped out into the snow. "DO YOU WANT TO DIE, MATT, GET OUT OF THE DAMN CAR!" Nate's voice was becoming as panicked as I was feeling at that moment. Frantically, I undid my seatbelt and opened the door, but by then the car had gone off the road entirely and started tumbling down the hill. At that point, it was all I could do to brace myself for what would certainly be a very painful, if not deadly, experience. I looked through the windshield and saw an oak tree that I was about three seconds away from impacting head-on. Nate's commands had degraded into frantic, incoherent wailing as I closed my eyes in anticipation of death. The car hit the tree head-on, I could feel a giant wave of heat from what must've been the engine exploding, and then the world went black: Nate's voice and the sound of the car had gone quiet.

* * *

I guess that was it. I must have died. I could feel myself suspended in a void, although I couldn't feel any part of my body. Except my eyes. If they were my eyes. It still felt as though I was clenching my eyelids tightly shut.

_"Open your eyes, Matt."_

What? Who was that? Did I still-

_"Yes, you still have eyes. As well as the rest of your body, which is still mostly intact."_

At that moment, I regained feeling in the rest of my body, which had apparently always been there. Immediately, I could feel a stinging burn through most of it. I guess being in an exploding automobile had something to do with that.

_"You assume correctly. You have not perished, but I pulled you into this void momentarily after your car exploded. Enough time had elapsed for you to be slightly burned, but overall you should consider yourself fortunate that you weren't the victim of what certainly would've followed had you remained in that car."_

...Okay voice, if you can read my thoughts, how about answering my oth-

_"I am the one who saved you. You may call me Zen. Yes, I can read your thoughts."_

...You know, I'd much rather you didn't. Same with cutting me off mid-thought. Can I just talk?

_"You'll have to get used to it, I'm not leaving your mind anytime soon. But yes, you may talk if you wish."_

"Thank you." I then took the time to survey the void around me. All was black, but despite not having any marker in sight to go by, I still felt as though I was suspended in forward motion. "Where am I?"

_"You are on your way to another world."_

...What?

_"It's a world you know fairly well. You should find a nice place in it quickly. There will be people in it that you'll know and trust immediately, although they won't know you. In four years time, you may come to enjoy it even more."_

Wait, I was going to be on this world for FOUR YEARS!? What-

_"You'll understand in time, Matt. Ten seconds."_

At that comment I became aware of a light in the distance. The forward momentum that I had been maintaining in this limbo was carrying me toward it at an increasing speed.

_"You won't appreciate your introduction to this new world immediately, but you'll thank me for it soon."_

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

I didn't get a response to that. Before I could form another coherent thought, I was rushed into the light. The light enveloped me, replacing the black void, and it was so bright that I had to close my eyes. I felt the light gradually fade around me, but the forward momentum continued. I opened my eyes to see where the momentum was carrying me.

Just in time to see an oak that I was seconds away from hitting head-on.

"Zen, you sad-"

And then came impact. My forward momentum abruptly, painfully stopped. I slowly fell backward off the tree, gravity was practically peeling me off of the trunk. I felt myself fall into a pile of dead leaves that had accumulated beneath the tree. I became aware of a terrible concussion, a gushing nosebleed, and the burns that covered my body all at once. I groaned under the intense pain, and the world went black.

* * *

AN: Sorry about dividing the prologue into two parts, but there's a lot that goes into describing the transition from Earth to Tellius in the detail that it deserves. I felt that it was more appropriate to divide the parts between leaving Earth and the introduction to the new world. That way I could give both parts the attention and description that they deserve. I've already got the second part down, so I'll give it a second read-through, edit things as necessary, and it should be up pretty soon.

Anyway, as I said before, reviews are greatly appreciated. I'd be thankful for any constructive criticism that you guys could provide. As for non-constructive criticism? I'd be lying if I said I'd be really thankful, but I'll brook it if I think I deserved it.

That's all. Thanks for reading.


	2. Prologue II: Welcome to Tellius

AN: This was up later then I anticipated. I had this finished several hours ago and ready to upload, but just as I was going through the process I got pulled away to do something else. That one thing led to another, and long story short I wasn't back in front of my computer until eight hours later.

Anyway, same bit as last time. Reviews greatly appreciated, constructive ones especially. Without further ado, here's the second half of the prologue.

* * *

Prologue II: Welcome to Tellius

The first thing I saw when I woke up was a stone wall. I was laying on my right side, on top of a fur-covered bed. Looking out a small window on the far wall, I saw that it was just as light outside as it had been when I crashed into that tree. Which meant that either only a couple of hours at most had elapsed, or it had been nearly a whole day. I stood up to examine the rest of my surroundings and noticed that my wounds had been healed: my headache was gone and my burns, though still evident, had mostly healed and were no longer painful.

"You can thank Mist for that."

Startled, I turned around to find the source of that comment. Sitting on a chair directly behind the headboard of the bed I was just on was a young man. He had red hair, and he was wearing white priest robes. Between his eyes, which were as red as his hair, and his skin, which was a pale as his robes, I wondered whether or not the man was feeling entirely alright. He sure didn't look like it. Wait, did-

"Sorry if I startled you" the man said apologetically, falsely interpreting my reaction towards the name 'Mist' as being towards him. I nodded in understanding and smiled at him, beckoning him to continue. "My name is Rhys. The girl I mentioned, Mist, she found you lying unconscious yesterday. She was out in the forest near a clearing where her father and a man named Boyd were sparring with her brother, Ike, when she found you. Boyd is the one who carried you back here, apparently as a result of losing to Ike. I helped Mist tend to your many wounds, and we've been taking turns watching you ever since, waiting for you to stir."

... Well, maybe I am in Path of Radiance.

"Acute observation, Sherlock. Didn't I drop enough clues for you?"

I swear to God, Zen, I'm going to find you, and-

"Good luck with that. Meanwhile, Rhys is still waiting for your answer." With that answer, I could feel the obnoxious spirit-thing's presence leaving again. God damn it, Zen...

"Excuse me?" Rhys looked at me quizzically, as though I had been talking to thin air.

"I'm sorry, I zoned out there. What were you asking?"

That response did little to dissuade Rhys' looking at me like I had grown a second head. I couldn't really blame him, I guess.

"...You must've gone through a lot, I guess. Anyway, I was asking you about your injuries. When Mist found you, you were terribly concussed, had a huge trail of dried blood stemming from your nose, and you were covered in severe burns. If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you?"

Okay, I guess that's a reasonable question. I was in a car that exploded, and then I was propelled into the trunk of a tree at high velocity. Of course, that explanation wouldn't make sense to any rational person. Time to come up with a convincing story.

"I... don't really know, actually."

...Good job, Matt. That's a real good alibi. It's so convincing, I'm almost believing it myself. Come on, man! Maybe Rhys will give you the benefit of the doubt, but do you really think you're going to get by Greil and Soren with that sparkly bullshit? No!

"I'm sorry, that's really all I can say. I'm having trouble remembering anything right now." That should be solid damage control. Play the amnesia card. Buy yourself time to come up with a more convincing crock of bull, and excuse all of the strange impressions that talking to Zen will give people of you.

"That's understandable. You hit your head pretty hard, it's only normal that you'd have trouble gathering your thoughts." Great. That got me off the hook. I smiled and nodded my thanks to him for his understanding, to which he smiled back. "Can you at least tell me your name?"

I guess there's no harm in that. "My name is Matt. Matt Wilson. Can you tell me something about where I am?" I already knew damn well where I was, but I couldn't let him know that without some kind of explanation as to how.

He smiled. "This is the fort that's home to the Greil Mercenaries. I'm one of them. Commander Greil is the man in charge of our group, and his daughter is the one who found you. She's preparing dinner with Rolf: those two are too young and inexperienced to be on the battlefield. Everyone else in the group is currently out on a job."

I nodded to show that I was still listening, although I was really hoping to get out of this room soon. Between the fact that the walls were made of stone, not knowing a lot about the world I was in, and knowing I couldn't answer any of the questions that the mercenaries certainly had for me, I really couldn't make myself comfortable sitting down. I also kind of wanted to talk to Mist and Rolf, if only to compare them to how they're portrayed in the game. Rhys noticed my apprehension, and gave me a questioning look.

"Sorry, I'm feeling really restless right now" I told him. He didn't understand why that was, but still accepted the answer. "Is there anything I could do to help out around the place?"

Rhys responded with light laughter. "Probably, our group is spread really thin as it is, with everyone besides Mist and Rolf usually on a job every day to make ends meet. It falls to the two of them normally to keep this place from falling into complete disrepair. I'd normally be out with the others, but I've been sick recently and the deputy commander doesn't want me back on the field yet." The game depicted Titania as being overprotective of Rhys, but just looking at the guy I didn't think he was healthy enough for combat either. "Anyway, those two should be in the kitchen. You can talk to them and see if there's anything else that still needs doing. Come, I'm sure they'll be glad to see that you're awake." Rhys smiled at me as he walked across the room to the door. I followed him out and down a short hallway to what must've been the mess hall.

On the wall to the left hung crossed weapons and a round shield, and the room was more than sufficiently illuminated by large windows on one side and scattered candles on the other. A single long wooden table was placed in the middle of the room, parallel to a counter that had been cut out of the far wall, on the other side of which was a small kitchen. The door to said kitchen was in a hallway directly opposite of the one I had just come from. Inside the kitchen were Mist, Rolf, and some basic contemporary kitchen items: an oak larder, a range and what looked like a source of running water. On the side of the table opposite of the crossed swords was a door leading outside. As Rhys and I approached the door to the kitchen, Mist and Rolf both looked at me, and their eyes lit up immediately. Rhys excused himself and walked out the door in front, apparently having business of his own to take care of at that moment.

"You woke up! I was wondering if you were ever going to!" Mist exclaimed. The look that Rolf was giving me expressed similar sentiment, although I knew that he was probably too shy to say anything to me just yet.

I smiled at the girl. "You must be Mist, the one who found me and healed me. I can't thank you enough for that." That came out more enthusiastically then I had intended, but what can I say? I couldn't quite explain why: Mist was just an easy person to warm up to, exactly as the game had portrayed. "Your father, Rhys told me that he's the one who runs this place. He probably wanted to speak to me when I woke up, didn't he?"

"Yes, he said he had a lot of questions he wanted to ask you, mostly about how you ended up bruised and burned and under a tree." Mist calmed down significantly at that bit. "But he won't be back here for a while, he's on a mission with some of the other guys."

"I know, Rhys told me as much." I really couldn't stop smiling when I was talking to Mist. "He also told me that the two of you" I gestured toward Rolf, who had seemingly been trying to obscure himself from my vision "are making dinner for the whole group when they get home."

Mist's smile picked up again, apparently she took pride in taking care of the group. "Yeah, they all spend so much time fighting to protect the people from bandits and the like, and Rolf and I are responsible for making sure they have something to eat when they come home. Well, I mostly do the cooking, Rolf just helps me out with cutting things and whatnot."

"I see. Well, if you don't mind, could I help you guys out? I know a thing or two about cooking, and it's the least I could do to pay you guys back for healing me." I wasn't lying about the cooking part. Looking around the kitchen, the appliances and storage units were centuries before my time, but my days with the boy scouts had taught me a thing or two about preparing meals with primitive tools. I had made sufficient dinners with less.

Mist seemed enthusiastic about my offer, judging by how the smile on her face increased to an even bigger size then it already had been. "That would be great! Here, cut these carrots, we're preparing a stew tonight!" Mist cheerfully shoved a small sack full of carrots into my chest and ran back across the kitchen to what she had been doing before I came in: peeling potatoes. Rolf nodded at me, gulped nervously, and quietly resumed his post cutting raw meat. Poor kid, it was almost as though he was scared of me. I was going to have to talk to him sometime soon if I was going to be here a while. It then occurred to me that neither child knew my name.

"By the way, my name is Matt. It's good to meet the two of you."

Mist just smiled at me and nodded: it seemed as though she'd trusted me enough from the outset that she'd forgotten to ask. Rolf just nodded at me and continued his work, although I could tell that I had put a crack in the ice between us. I figured I'd follow up with a conversation, have the two tell me about the mercenary group. Besides, I already knew about everyone that was in it, but surely they'd be able to tell me more about the guys then the game did.

"So, the mercenaries that you guys live with here. Who are they? What are they like?"

Mist perked up once again at that question. I had known the girl for only a few minutes, but I could already tell she took a lot of pride in her father and his employees. "Oh, my father is a fighter like no other. The locals praise him like he's a hero, but he's far too humble to think of himself like that..." and she went on. As I thought, the girl was able to talk for hours about the mercenaries, and Rolf added in his opinion occasionally. In what felt like minutes but must've been at least a couple of hours, I learned a lot more about Greil, Ike, Titania, Oscar, Boyd, Rolf, Rhys, Gatrie, Shinon (the two had mixed opinions about the sniper) and Soren (whom neither seemed to like very much at all) then I had known before. The two children talked, and I listened, occasionally adding in a question, until the sun began to set. Just as it seemed the two were running out of information to tell me, the door in front opened, and Rhys came in, followed by the rest of the mercenaries

"I did it, Father! I've completed my first mission, and I'm alive to tell you about it!" That must be Ike, then. Seems a little too proud about having successfully killed bandits for profit, but I guess the game portrayed him accurately in that respect. Portrayed him accurately physically as well: he was roughly my size at 6'0", with hair that matched the blue color of his eyes. He had a thin, lanky frame, but it was evident that his growing muscles were filling it out well. He had the kind of physique that would win in the competition that was high school. I guess sparring with heavy swords as frequently as he had would do that to you. Too bad he probably never attended a public school.

"It wasn't that impressive, honestly" a green-haired man replied as he dropped a bloody axe next to a chair and took a seat at the table. The man looked to be about an inch above me and Ike, with broader shoulders and much larger biceps that he didn't cover with sleeves. I jumped to the wild conclusion that he was the fighter, Boyd.

"Boyd, don't belittle Ike's successful first outing just to make yourself feel better about your abysmal failure of one" a tall, green-haired man responded. The man looked as though he might've had about half-an-inch as well as a lot of class on Boyd, but his humble, sleeved arm muscles had nothing on the fighter's. The man left a lance propped up against the wall by the door, looked at me, nodded, smiled, and sat down in a seat next to Boyd. So that was Oscar.

"Ike did very well at Caldea, commander. He pulled his weight in combat, fought with honor and integrity, and the citizens took a liking to him quickly. It would seem that he'd be a suitable replacement for you as the head of this organization someday." That must've been Titania. Not quite sure what gave that away: the crimson braid that reached halfway down her body, the glowing white Crimean-army armor, or the "everyone-in-the-room's-mother" vibe that I was getting from her. She left a rather intimidating-looking axe at the door and sat down across from Oscar.

"I'm sure it was, Titania. Good work, Ike." The boy merely nodded to his father, clearly more focused on the food that Mist had proceeded to hand out. The man was imposing, with his large, muscular frame and stern gaze. He was dressed humbly, with only a golden cape to adorn his faded brown attire, but it only added a rustic charm to him. Definitely fit the bill of the 'strong but silent' type, he had a very strong air of authority about him. Even if I didn't know better, I still would've believed Mist when she told me that this man was a hero just based on his appearance.

Accurate portrayals all around, I guess. Ten points for Intelligent Systems®.

"You, lad" Greil addressed me. Suddenly, all metaphorical lights were on me: every pairs of eyes in the room was focused in my direction. "I see you've been busy while we were gone" he gestured toward the stew that Mist has proceeded to serving. If you don't mind, I have some questions for you. Please, sit down." He gestured to the seat on Titania's right. I sat down, Greil subsequently took the seat across from me.

"What's your name, son?"

"Matt, sir. Matt Wilson."

"Okay Matt, my daughter found you under a tree yesterday, badly injured and unconscious. Care to explain how you got there?"

I had to stick by the story that I told Rhys. Or lack thereof, I guess. Either way, not having to make up my answers as I went along took a lot of stress out of the situation, even if the answers were only stopgaps until I had something worth telling them.

"I'm not quite sure, sir. I'm having trouble remembering any events that preceded my waking up here." I hesitated before finishing my statement. "The one who took care of me, Rhys, he said that I had sustained a great deal of head trauma before Mist found me. He told me that might be why I can't remember such things."

Greil nodded, my answer apparently being sufficient for now. I fist-pumped on the inside. "That's not much of a story, but it makes sense" Greil said. "It's not that important to me anyway, really. Mist has apparently warmed up to you, and I like to consider her to be a good judge of character. If you have her trust, you have mine. When you remember anything about your past, you can tell me. Or not. Like I said, it's all the same to me." With that, Greil started eating his stew, apparently done talking about that subject.

With that conversation done, I allowed myself to start in on my stew, as everyone else around me seemed to be finishing up. Ike and Boyd finished their meals especially quickly, practically drinking the entire stew within seconds of it being placed in front of them. I decided to take my time with it, and appreciate the culinary skill that Mist had. After about 5 minutes, Greil, Titania, Mist and I were the only people left in the mess hall: Greil in conversation with Titania at the other end of the table while Mist was taking care of dishes. I finished and took my bowl into the kitchen and washed it myself, which Mist appreciated. As I exited the kitchen into the mess hall, Greil called to me.

"Matt, sit down for a moment." I wasn't quite sure where this was going, but at this point I trusted that nothing bad was going to happen. "Matt, I'm guessing you don't have a home anywhere nearby. Take the room that you were resting in earlier, it's yours as long as you're here. I know better than to believe your amnesia story: it was obvious that you simply weren't comfortable talking about your past. I'm perfectly alright with that. Make yourself at home here, and we'll assimilate you into the group in time." For the first time that night, Greil smiled at me. Titania smiled at me as well.

... Well, I wasn't prepared for that. Talk about a best-case scenario.

"T-Thanks. I don't know what to say, really..."

"You don't have to say anything" Titania chimed in. "It's evident that you've got a good work ethic, and you're willing to do whatever you can to help out. You can thank us in action. We don't know for sure what you can do or what we want you to do yet, but we have faith in you. Get a good night's rest, and wake up early tomorrow. You're a mercenary now, sleeping in is a luxury that you no longer have."

I nodded in understanding, although what the deputy was saying wasn't fully registering just yet. I was stoked. I simply nodded my understanding to the commanders and walked off toward my room. I walked the short distance down the hallway to my new room, but as soon as I grabbed the handle to open the door, I heard another voice calling to me.

"Hey, kid."

This voice was coming from down the hall. In the dark hallway, I could make out a tall silhouette leaning against the wall about 15 feet away. A long pony-tail starting from the top of the silhouette's head gave the figure away as Shinon. I didn't know what the sniper wanted now, but based on what I knew of his personality, I guessed it was some sort of rookie hazing. Whatever it was, I didn't think it was a conversation I wanted to have now. I proceeded through my door-

"I'm talking to you, kid. Turn around."

... Okay, fine.

"You must be Shinon, the supremely-skilled sniper that I've heard so much about. What do you want with me?" I asked. I was hoping that the lofty praise would play to the man's ego and get me out of the conversation faster, but alas that was too much to hope for.

"Look kid, I have the utmost respect for the commander and everything, but earning the little brat's trust isn't enough to earn mine." His voice was sterner then Greil's had been, and although I couldn't see his face in the darkness I could tell that his facial expression was just as much so.

"That's understandable. The 'brat' isn't your daughter. What's your point?"

He hesitated a little at that. Whatever reaction he expected from me, it surely wasn't agreement. I took some pride in catching the snarky bastard off guard.

"I'm starting to like you, kid. You're probably no combat expert, but you don't act like you are like that punk Ike does. You're just accepting your role: kitchen assistant to the younger brats. I can appreciate that. On top of that, you apparently acknowledge my abilities for what they are. That's more than I can say for anyone else in this organization besides the commander and Gatrie. Stick around kid, you'll go places. Not anywhere above me, but places."

With that, Shinon silently walked away, completely undetected by me as soon as he was out of my face. I could understand why the guy was such a talented sniper: the natural stealth he just exhibited plus the pinpoint accuracy he supposedly had would make for all kinds of lethal potential. I guess being in Shinon's good graces couldn't be a bad thing, although there was apparently not a very high ceiling to his good side. Oh well, like Titania told me, I was going to have to wake up early tomorrow. Not like there was any point in staying up anyway, really.

I entered my room, closed the door and walked over to the bed. As I laid down, I felt a vibrating in my pocket. My phone! I still had it! And if it was vibrating, that meant I had service! And... that someone was trying to reach me.

I paused at that bit, and slowly took out the phone to read the name of the contact. What was I going to tell them? I was dead to everyone that actually has one of these things!

I sighed in relief when I realized it was Nate, and that he had only messaged me. The message was blank, which considering the situation more than likely meant that he was just trying to locate my body. If that was the case, though, he probably had some sort of authority figures with him that were searching, and I didn't want to let more people than necessary know where my body had really gone. It was a stretch to think that Nate would believe me if I told him, let alone several people who had doubtlessly never even heard of Fire Emblem, let along played an installment of it.

"Hello again, Matt."

Zen. I had almost forgotten you existed. You have a lot of explaining to do, you sadistic little shit! For now though, I'll be satisfied with an answer to just one question. Why are you here, and why now?

"Like you said, Matt, you had almost forgotten about me. I felt compelled to remind you of my existence."

You know, I'd almost rather you just left...

"You'll understand my purpose in time, Matt."

Of course. I'll understand everything in time, won't I? Don't you dare just explain anything to me now, you enigmatic bastard!

"That would compromise the mission, Matt."

... What. What are you-

"I must go now, Matt. I have connections to make. Notably with that friend of yours, the one called Nate."

Wait.. What's that supposed to-

"Sleep well, Matt. You'll need it."

... And just like that, he was gone. Damn it! How does that creep expect me to sleep well after he just drops a little cryptic bomb on me like that!?

... I guess there wasn't any point in thinking about it now. There would be time for that later in life. I had, apparently, the whole story of Path of Radiance ahead of me. This was going to be an interesting year. I guess waiting for whatever time Zen dictates is appropriate is as good a time as any to understand the confounding bullshit he feeds me. I'll deal with such things when I come to them. For now, my primary goal was staying alive, and hopefully being alive at the end of the war to tell about it. And, perhaps, to tell of what follows.

It would be nice to see how Radiant Dawn goes.

* * *

AN: Good? Took a lot longer then the first half to write, honestly. It's been a while since I last played the game, and I was second guessing my dialogues frequently for whether or not they were in character. I know that certain characters got a lot more screen time then others, but that's the nature of the story. If I'm spending the chapter in the kitchen, then you'll be seeing a heavy dose of Mist. You guys know how the next few chapters unfold, each of the other characters will have their moments as well. Rest assured, I haven't forgotten about a single one of them.

Once again, reviews are great, constructive ones more so. If I have a down chapter, I'll tolerate any non-constructive rants that I deserved. Just my idea of fairness right there.

That's all. Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 1: I'm in the Band

AN: I really appreciate the reviews I've gotten so far for the prologue. It was reassuring that all of them were generally positive.

Hannahbananaonthesavanna: Yes, I've noticed that the grammar and punctuation on a lot of stories here is lacking. I've probably spent more time double-checking such things in this story then actually writing it. It's something I've been extremely conscious of through the whole process, and it's nice to hear that someone appreciates it. As for Shinon and Rolf, I have big plans for the two of them. I've always thought Shinon was just a misunderstood character: all he wanted was to be paid what he earned and to be able to pursue his ambitions as far as he chose. Like he said in the game, the reason he eventually joined the Daein army was because ranks were handed out based only on skill. Shinon will be making waves sooner than later, for sure. As for Rolf, Matt's attempts to establish a positive relationship with the kid are far from over. I plan on Rolf becoming one of the more important characters, if only in Matt's eyes.

BipolarIke: I'm flattered. It's just a matter of time before you find something you can criticize though, I'm sure. Thanks for the review!

Angel of Darkness and Light: Thank you for the thoughtful review. I had intended to do something similar with Zen's dialogue even before you suggested that, so starting this chapter I'll italicize his speech.

Gunlord500: It's nice that the author of Wayward Son bothered to review my story two chapters in. That means a lot, really. Thank you for the review, and I hope I can expect another one soon.

I'm getting the impression that the first few chapters of a story are the hardest to write. I mean, I don't have the plot fully laid out yet, I'm double-checking the personalities of each of the characters, and I'm not sure where events are going to lead. On the other hand, in a few chapters the characters will be settled into their own roles in the story, I'll be able to have their interactions with Matt be more about their relationship then just trying to portray the character's personality, and I'll be able to move the story along with a better idea of what those characters will be doing. Essentially, as the story moves along I'll be able to be less focused on staying entirely accurate by the game and move more into making the story my own.

Speaking of making the story my own, if any of you have ideas for OCs to put into the story, please put them into a review. I don't want Matt to be the only foreign character in the story: if he can break the void and enter another world, it's perfectly logical that others can and will as well. I don't plan on turning this story into a full-on crossover at any point, but having some elements from outside the game would certainly help me put a unique spin on it.

Also, about Prologue II. If you read that chapter shortly after it was uploaded and noticed any typos or obvious mistakes, I've tried to patch those up. In the two hours after I initially loaded that chapter, I re-uploaded edited versions about three times.

On another note, I'm going to start typing Zen's dialogue in italics, if only for my own benefit.

Well, that author's note has gone on long enough. Enjoy chapter 1.

* * *

Chapter 1: I'm in the Band

The alarm on my iPhone woke me up at what was apparently 5:30 that next morning, to the tune of _Days Go By _by The Offspring. I groggily sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes, not bothering to complain about the time or darkness outside. Waking up this early was something I'd surely be getting used to soon enough.

_Good morning, sunshine. Looks as though you beat Ike to the day, but everyone else has been active for the past ten minutes. You have some ground to make up._

And you have better things to do then torment me, Zen. Piss off.

_Actually, right now, I don't. Unless you'd rather not hear about how my meeting with Nate went._

At Nate's name I reflexively snapped to attention.

_I'm taking that as a 'yes, Zen, you're welcome to impart your story to me'. I informed Nate that you hadn't yet died. He doesn't yet know where you've gone, although he insisted upon knowing at that instant. It would seem he doesn't take learning things in time any better than you do, unfortunately._

What, tormenting just me wasn't enough for you? And what was that bit of info supposed to tell me?

_Nothing yet, Matt. You'll figure out soon._

And with that he was gone. Just as quickly as he arrived. Cryptic little shit.

After that strange conversation, I rolled out of bed and left the room. It crossed my mind that I could take some time to acknowledge the furniture and other pieces of my room besides just my bed, but I got rid of that thought quickly. I'd be on the run from the army of Daein soon enough, and I wasn't going to take any of those things with me. Besides, everything that I really needed to kill my idle time could be found on my iPhone.

Which got me to thinking: how long would I have with it? I'm going to need to recharge it at some point, and I sure as hell wasn't going to find any wall outlets on this world, although it's not like I brought my charger in my pocket as well anyway. And even if I dragged out the remaining charge as long as possible, eventually I was going to run out of service. It's not as though I would be able to find any Verizon® stores on Tellius either.

"Good morning, Matt." I heard Greil call from the mess hall. Everyone in the company not named Ike, Mist or Rolf was seated around the table with meals in front of them. Mist and Rolf had apparently been hard at work preparing a humble breakfast for everyone, Ike must've just overslept. Typical of him, I guess. I decided to sit down at the end of the table, on Boyd's right, where Mist promptly set a bowl of some hot oat-looking solution in front of me. These guys couldn't afford to be picky eaters, I guess.

"It would seem that at least one of the newbies woke up when they were supposed to, Commander" I heard Titania remark from the other end of the table. I guess my assumption that Ike had overslept was correct. "This is only his second day on the job, and Ike's already developed a bad habit streak. I know he didn't have a mission to set out on today, but I'd have hoped he'd realize that waking up early was a daily business."

"I know, Titania. I'm sure that's a habit he'll shake soon enough" Greil replied calmly, between spoonfuls of whatever it is he was eating. "If not, I can always let him spar with me until it's beaten out of him." Everyone at the table besides Mist chuckled at that remark.

"Father, if your next spar with him is any worse than the one two days ago, you're going to kill him!" Mist protectively exclaimed. It would seem as though the mercenary lifestyle had made everyone else in the room less sensitive, or Mist was just tired of watching the old man pummel the kid day in and day out. Probably a combination of both.

"Relax, twerp." Shinon, of all people, responded. "If Ike is going to adopt the mercenary lifestyle, he's going to encounter a lot of pain, greater then anything he'll get from a wooden sword." Most of the mercenaries nodded in agreement. "Whatever small wounds your father might give the boy should be the least of your worries." Greil looked at the girl and nodded. While not everyone at the table sympathized with Shinon's bluntness, they all seemed to respect his point.

"Shinon's right, Mist" Titania said, after sending a disapproving glare in Shinon's direction, to which the sniper just shrugged. "The biggest risk to his life that your brother has seen so far was his first mission yesterday, and you didn't seem too worried at all about him then."

"Well, yeah..." Mist said unconfidently, "but those were just bandits. Father is a far better fighter then any group of bandits could be, no matter how big or how tough."

Greil's subtle smile at that statement did not escape my notice, although it apparently did everyone else's. It was gone as soon as it was there, though.

"True, Mist, but the Commander would never consider bringing his full might to bear in a spar with Ike" Oscar commented. "Besides, the day before his first mis-"

"Shut up!" Boyd jokingly interjected. "We all know where you're going with this, Oscar. Before my first mission the old-"

"Commander to you, Boyd" Greil interrupted. The sternness of the statement was either lost on Boyd, or he had just ignored it. Considering it was Boyd, I wasn't quite sure.

"Right, the commander let me beat him in a spar the day before my first outing. When I actually got to real combat, I broke my axe in my first real fight and came back a bloody mess. Everyone knows the damn story."

"Language, Boyd" Titania scolded. From Titania's voice, it would seem as though she had to repeat that comment more times then she would've liked, and by now she was saying it more out of habit then anything else.

"Right, Boyd. And do you remember how long you were in Rhys' care before you were back to work?"

"Two weeks..." Boyd quietly said, his head now hanging. Oscar smirked, Shinon let out a snicker.

"Exactly. We don't want Ike to be repeating your mistakes, do we?" Titania asked. "Well, more than he already has, anyway..."

At that comment, Ike burst through the door in front. What little semblance of a smile Shinon, and everyone else, had on their faces soured immediately. Everyone in the room just stared disapprovingly at the boy.

"... But... there's no mission today..." Ike let out slowly. The line hadn't exactly convinced anyone. "I didn't sleep in that late, did I?" Silence. A shaking of the head from Boyd was the only further reaction. Ironic, from what the youngest two in the room had told me the day before Boyd had been a repeat-offender of that policy himself.

"But... there's still breakfast for me, right?" Ike questioned. Mist shook her head as everyone else silently left the table. Wait, that couldn't be right... could it? I know the guy got here late and all, but they still had to feed him, didn't they? Being a mercenary was physically draining! I looked to Titania to confirm if what Mist said was true, seeing as she probably would've been the first to deny such a statement. She noticed me a few seconds later, but only winked at me. Okay, her flirting with me was out of the question. Did that mean...

... Oh.

"What?... No!... Come on, man!" Ike wailed, turned around, and threw his fist against the wall. He recoiled in pain: punching a rock in anger was generally never a good idea. After that, he just sighed, hung his head, and started toward the kitchen. At his reaction, I saw several of the mercenaries chuckle. I'd have thought they were all terrible people if Titania hadn't set me off that this was a joke. While Ike was in the kitchen scouring for scraps that he could make into a breakfast, Boyd took a plate that was loaded with pancakes and a couple of pieces of buttered-bread-with-jam out from under the table and place it on the table in front of the empty seat next to him. He then subtly stood up and walked toward the hallway leading to some of the rooms.

Ike walked out of the kitchen with only a piece of toast and cup of water, saw his breakfast on the table, and just stopped. I could practically see his mind breaking from looking into his eyes. He just stood there and stared blankly at the food. No further reaction happened from anyone else in the room for a solid ten seconds.

And then there was laughter. Lots of it. It ranged from the classier snickers emitted from the commander and Titania to the hysterical rolling-on-the-floor of Boyd and Shinon. Apparently, everyone in the group had thoroughly enjoyed the joke made at Ike's expense. Ike, on the other hand, still didn't seem to grasp the situation. He eventually broke his unresponsive trance, blinking a few times, only to add what he had scavenged to the food on the plate and start eating. He never even seemed to consider questioning how the food had gotten there, who's idea the joke was, or even that there was a joke at all. The reactions of his mercenary peers were lost on him: the only thing he had in mind was food.

The level of hysteria in the room eventually died down. Greil announced to the room that he was going to be leaving for a mission, and he subsequently exited the mess hall and the fort premises, Shinon and Gatrie quietly following behind. Everyone besides Ike soon left the room as well: Mist and Rolf retreated into the kitchen to finish what little was left of their business while Titania, Oscar and Boyd walked out into the fort courtyard. I decided now would be as good a time as ever to explore the place, so I walked into the rear-right corner from the main door into the a hallway.

I opened a door into a small study/library. A desk sat under a window on the far wall, with the extra wall space covered by shelves that were lined with books, small trinkets and other embellishments. I started scanning the shelves for any volumes that appeared as though they'd be helpful to me in my adjustment to the Fire Emblem world.

"Amateur Swordmanship" looked like a book that would've been bought as a joke for someone. Greil and Ike were the only two sword-wielders in the company, and neither of them had any use for a guidebook. Maybe someone had been trying to secretly pick swordmanship up at some point and had eventually been dissuaded by the others? I opened the book to the first page and read the first paragraph.

"Swordmanship: the combat style of choice for a significant amount of the world's fighters. If you're reading this book, we're making the assumption that you've either just started training in the art or that you've never touched a sword previously. First things first: when picking up the sword, always grab it by the rounded handle, not the blade. Failure to follow these directions may result in injury to the hands."

Well, even if I were to try picking up swordmanship, it looked like I'd be able to get a better learning experience from Ike or the commander. Which got me thinking: how was I going to contribute to the group on the battlefield? Swords, axes, lances, bows, magic and staves; those were the options available to me. My experience with axes had taught me that they were cumbersome tools, and they were hardly a match for my more sophisticated tastes. Sure, they were fun to throw, and I had developed a touch for throwing tomahawks during my days at summer camp, but I doubted such a specialized method would be practical here. I wouldn't be able to acquire a large amount of throwing axes, and I'd have to have another weapon on hand to defend myself between the time of throwing and the time that I collected the axe.

_Look on the row of shelves on the opposite side of the room, second from the left, third row from the top, fifth book from the right._

Interesting time to reappear, Zen. To what do I owe the honor?

_If you follow my instructions and find what you seek, then maybe that will shed some light on that question._

Cryptic as always, but what else did I expect? A useful answer?

_You should expect such a reply by this point, Matt._

... Rhetorical question, Zen. I placed the book I had just been looking through back in it's place on the shelf and went to the shelves on the room's other side. I scanned the shelves looking for the book that Zen had pointed out to me, and pulled out a volume titled "Warrior from Scratch: Determining the Combat Style Best Suited for You".

Well Zen, looks like you can be useful after all. Thanks, I guess.

_How does that metaphorical foot taste?_

Like bacon. Bacon, sliced steak and buffalo chicken shreds between two buns of 9-wheat bread. With a bag of corn chips and a large Coke on the side. Damn, the thought was making me think of life back on Earth.

_Hold on to that book, and you're welcome. I'd recommend absorbing the information quickly. You remember what happens later today, right?_

Wait ... right, yesterday was the mission at Caldea, so Mist and Rolf are going to get kidnapped soon.

...

Wait, Mist and Rolf are going to get kidnapped soon!

I bolted from the room, book in tow, and ran into the mess hall. Mist and Rolf had already finished their business in the kitchen and had apparently left. Shit!

_Relax, Matt. There's nothing you can do._

What do you mean, Zen?

_At this point, the chain of events that has led to their kidnapping has already progressed beyond the point of no return. Pursue them and try to steer them away from it, and you'll just find yourself in their company. Conversely, you could try to learn what you can of combat, and quickly, so that you'll be serviceable come the time to rescue them._

... Maybe you're right, Zen. My first instinct was to deny him, but he had been helpful twice just recently, and he was right that I wouldn't be able to help. What was an unarmed noob going to do against a squad of bandits?

_It seems that you've learned patience quickly. Very good. If you want to be of any use later, I suggest you learn what you can of combat now. Pick up the book, find the weapon that calls to you, and seek out an appropriate tutor from among the mercenaries._

I could've come up with a similar plan myself, Zen, but thanks anyway.

_I'll be with you again soon._

And with that he was gone. I decided that the best use of my time would be to open the book and determine what combat style I was best suited for. So I did.

"Warrior from Scratch: Determining the Combat Style Best Suited for You". I opened to the first page. "Trying to get a job serving your country on the battlefield? Are you traveling, and need to learn a practical and effective way to defend yourself from brute raiders? Or are you simply looking to learn and refine a useful skill in what spare time you have? If your answer to any of these questions is 'yes' then you've opened the right book!"

Well shit, I guess I opened the right book! Hah.

"The most common method of combat is melee: attempting to gore your opponent with a large instrument made of metal and wood, while also trying to keep said opponent from doing the same to you with an instrument of his own. The most common tools used in melee combat include, but are not limited to: swords, axes, and lances. Each has it's own advantages and disadvantages, both in general combat and when matched against other specific weapons."

Great. A lesson in the weapon triangle. I wonder if I could find Anna, the helpful hint girl, and just get her to teach me how to fight. Did she actually exist in this world, or was she just a figment of the imaginary tutorial world. Huh, a character in a work of fiction which turned out to not be fiction may or may not be fictional. Yeah, let's just cut off that train of thought. If she exists, I'll probably meet her later. Before I could resume reading, I heard the door open.

"Oh, there you are Matt."

"What've you been doing here all this time, man!?" Boyd half-exclaimed. I subtly checked my iPhone in my pocket: it had only been about forty-five minutes since breakfast had ended. Oscar just shook his head at me, knowing that I was checking the time and telling me to dismiss Boyd's strange phrasing as just that. I held up the book I was reading in response.

"Reading, man? Come on! Who does that? Besides, like, Soren..." Boyd trailed off, leaving a disapproving look on his face.

"Reading is an activity that many intelligent men partake in every day, Boyd" Oscar commented. "Besides you, just about every mercenary in this company has picked up a book relatively recently." He paused, before adding "Ike and the two juniors less recently than others, and the volumes that Gatrie brings back from the local libraries may be questionable, but my point stands".

"Hey, Oscar, I've read recently too! I'm not some brickhead like Boyd is!" Ike interjected.

"Ike, name the title of the book that you've most recently read".

The confident look on Ike's face vanished, replaced with the look of one who was lost in thought.

"Is he . . . thinking?" I sarcastically interjected.

Boyd snickered. "What? No! Ike thinking!? Impossible!".

"Hello, Pot, meet Kettle" Oscar quietly commented.

"Yes Boyd, I can think, for your information." Ike condescendingly said to Boyd, before turning on me. "What had you thinking otherwise, anyway? You've been here for like a day."

I smirked. "Mist and Rolf are the only two in the company that I've really gotten to know."

From the looks on the two's faces, I didn't need to finish that statement for them to understand.

"Well, we're going to have to set the record straight. You can't hang out with those twerps too long anyway, they'll make you go soft." Boyd confidently stated. "Hang out with us cool cats, and you'll understand everything better. By 'us cool cats' I mean 'Boyd the boss, his older brother, and his bitch!" Boyd started laughing loudly at the end of that statement. I could practically see Oscar sweatdropping. Ike had some retort for that, but I wisely tuned it out.

"Moving on from that..." Oscar said "what were you reading anyway?" I handed the copy of "Warrior from Scratch: Determining the Combat Style Best Suited for You" to Oscar. He read the title, and said "Impressive, Matt. First day on the job, and you're already looking for the best way to contribute?" Oscar smiled at me, Boyd and Ike broke their argument and focused on our conversation again. "It's nice that you're so committed, but didn't you think that asking one of us for weapon tutoring would've better educated you then a book?"

"Yeah, but I didn't want to be a burden to any of you" I answered semi-honestly. Truth be told, I was just better at learning via reading and translating information into practice than from hands-on experience.

Oscar laughed lightly. "It wouldn't be a problem for any of us, would it guys?" Oscar turned to Boyd and Ike, who both nodded in agreement.

"Sure, no problem. We really don't have anything better to do right now anyway." Ike added.

"Yeah, it would be nice to see you go a round with Ike and smack some humility into him" Boyd snarked.

"That's enough Boyd. You're one to talk" Oscar remarked.

Suddenly the door flew open and Rhys rushed into the room. Crap. This is where he tells them the kids were kidnapped, isn't it?

_Time for your first taste of action, Matt._

"Everyone! Come quickly!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, Rhys. So, how are you feeling?" Boyd obliviously asked.

"What is it? Why are you so agitated?" Oscar inquired.

"Has something happened?" Ike chimed in.

"It's Mist and Rolf. . . they . . . they've been taken by bandits!"

Yep. That was it. I put on my best surprised-looking face so no one would notice anything.

"What?!" Boyd yelled.

"What are you talking about?" Ike yelled.

"The two of them went out early this morning to gather wildflowers . . . sure, they're not back yet, but-"

"Earlier, by the gate" Rhys explained, cutting Oscar off. "A man asked me to deliver a letter to Titania. It was from a group of bandits-kidnappers. What are we going to do?"

"Let me see it." Oscar calmly said. Dang. I mean, I already knew it was coming, but I'm pretty sure Oscar was even more composed than I was.

"Oh, if only I'd known . . . He didn't seem like a bad person . . ." Rhys said to no one in particular.

"Hm. I get it. They're after revenge. They want retribution for the other day at that village. . . Caldea, was it? Hm. Taking children as hostages? What cowards!"

You know, I was pretty sure this was the exact game dialogue, down to the last word. I guess things that were scripted and I didn't meddle with wouldn't be changed, would they?

_Correct, Matt._

"Blast!" Ike yelled, running out the door.

"Wait, Ike! Where do you think you're going!?" Boyd yelled after him.

"I'm going to get Mist!"

"But..." Rhys yelled after him "No! Titania . . . she said she'd be right back. You're supposed to get ready and wait for her!"

"And do you honestly think we've got time to wait? I'm going!"

Geez, Ike, relax. They won't do anything until Titania shows up anyway. Oh wait, he didn't know that.

"What do you think you're going to do on your own, rookie? Hold it! I'm going too!" Boyd yelled, before running out the door after the blue-maned idiot.

Oscar and Rhys sighed audibly in synch next to me. The two looked at me, and Oscar spoke. "Don't follow their example, Matt. Besides, you still haven't started training yet, let alone been on an actual battlefield."

"Stay here, Matt" Rhys added. "It falls to us to take care of Boyd and Ike now. You've gotten off to a great start with the commander, it would be a shame for you to ruin that by following those fools."

With that, the two of them ran out the door after them, leaving me to determine my next course of action. . .

_Consider your options, Matt. On the one hand, if you stay then you'll-_

Like hell, Zen. I ran into the kitchen, pulled out a sharp-looking sheath knife that Rolf had been cutting through meat with the night before, and sprinted out the door. I could make out Oscar and Rhys 70 to 80 yards down a road to the right, and I ran in that direction.

I trailed Oscar for what seemed like a couple of minutes, keeping up with his brisk pace. My bi-athlete condition was serving me well so far in this world, it seemed. Several S-turns and bends later, I could see the group recovering and talking in a huddle. Ahead of them was a fork, with one road going to the right and another to the left. I remembered from the game script that the left fork was the right one, and didn't slow down to join them.

"The road forks here . . . well, which way do we go?" I heard Boyd ask as I was closing in on the huddle, about thirty yards out.

"How am I supposed to-"

"Left." I answered, cutting Ike off, not bothering to look in their direction or even slightly slow down. That probably saved about fifteen clicks of going through scripted lines.

I continued bolting down the road, as I could hear the other mercenaries breaking their huddle and following me. A short distance after the fork, and a small structure in a clearing came into view. Judging from the appearance of the rough-looking characters that were around said structure, I reasoned that this must be the bandit stronghold.

I gradually slowed down and came to a stop at the edge of the clearing, the rest of the Greil Mercenaries not far behind. A bandit that matched the description of Ikanau surveyed the group, and jumped onto a rock in the middle of the clearing before beginning to speak.

"So you came, did you, boys? Is it just you, then? You came alone? You seriously underestimate what we're capable of doing to you. Now, where's that snobby, red-haired wench you ride with?"

I put up my best cocky, overconfident attitude, and responded "She's going to be late to the party", while smirking. "Her loss, between the five of us I doubt there'll be any leftovers for her by the time she gets here."

I heard Boyd chuckle behind me, before saying "You may as well release the kids now, save us the trouble of cutting down the door when we're finished with you all." Boyd's comment was just as overconfident and fake in it's delivery as mine had been.

I could see Ikanau's face redden in frustration. "Shut up, you stupid kids! If it's a fight you're after, you've come to the right place. We'll make sure there's not a scrap of life left in the lot of you by the time that red-haired knight shows her face! To arms, boys!"

At that, the crowd of other bandits in the clearing raised their weapons and roared. I estimated there to be about fifteen to twenty of them in all. So, that's three of them for every one of us, with 'us' including a healing unit and myself. If the scum weren't much harder in real combat as they were in the virtual kind, I was really liking our chances.

. . . Wait, did I just say 'scum'?

_The world grows on you fast, doesn't it Matt?_

Go home, Zen. Real men at work here.

"There . . . there are so many" I heard Rhys say. His voice gave away that he wasn't as comfortable in this situation as the rest of us. "But . . . we must not lose!"

Oscar, composure still entirely intact, took command. "Rhys, move to the rear. If anyone gets injured, we'll need you on hand."

"Understood!" he complied.

Before Oscar released any more commands, Ikanau issued a pompous command for the bandits to close in on our area. Boyd clearly had a retort on the tip of his tongue, but thought better of it as an axeman engaged him.

_It would be wise to worry about your own situation, Matt._

Before I could start to compose a retort to that statement, I heard footsteps to my left. I snapped out of my reverie, looked up, and saw a bandit with a shoddy-looking axe about two seconds away from reaving me. Cold-blooded, I stared the lumbering fool in the eyes, grasped the knife in my pocket in my right hand, and waited for the right moment to strike.

From about eight feet away, the bandit started winding up for an unnecessarily long overhead blow, no doubt intending to crush my skull while I was too shocked to respond. Just before the apex of his wind-up, I pulled the knife from my pocket, leaped forward into his body, and buried the knife in his stomach. His eyes widened in surprise initially, and as his body went limp I pulled the knife out of him, letting his body fall to the ground. He died with that look still plastered on his face.

_Congratulations, Matt Wilson, you're a cold-blooded killer. No doubt you've simultaneously surprised and impressed your audience._

Not sensing any more immediate threats, I turned around to check on the other mercenaries' progress. Six bandit bodies already littered the ground, and as Ike and Boyd ganged up on and took out a seventh I could see the remaining bandits falling back into a semi-fortified position around Ikanau. Oscar and Rhys were just looking at me with mouths agape.

"Impressive, rookie" an intimidating, female voice said from behind me. Startled, I immediately racked my brain for who the surprise visitor could be. "You were supposed to wait for me, you know."

When I turned around, whoever had been there was gone, but I heard Ikanau yell "Looks like red had to save her pups from destruction after all, lads! She'll be with them on the ground in pools of blood soon enough!"

Oh. Hello, Titania.

_Shake it off and rejoin the fray, Matt. You have work to do._

Right. I re-assessed the situation and saw the group closing in on the bandit's hut. The bandit group's better fighters had apparently not been so willing to throw themselves at us, as they made a solid attempt at a defensive front. Ike, Boyd and Oscar were having some trouble breaking through, although they weren't giving an inch of their own either. Still, as I had caught up with the group, it was looking as though we had a stalemate on our hands.

That was, of course, until a flash of red and white crossed the front without breaking stride, leaving the bodies of all it's bandit members in it's wake.

So, that's what Titania looks like in practice.

Ikanau, now with his back against the hut, and only three lackeys left next to him, laughed grimly. "I've been waiting for you, you crazy red-haired bitch!" So, that's what the game sounds like without the ESRB filter. "You're going to hurt, and hurt bad." I tuned the idiot out. Real original monologue, Ikanau. I surveyed the bandit corpses in hopes that one of them had been carrying a hand axe that I could throw at the rambling captain, but my efforts were in vain. I looked around at the other mercenaries and made eye contact with Oscar, who just gestured at me to watch.

I looked back just in time to see Titania's axe sink into Ikanau in the space between his head and his left shoulder, cutting his body vertically almost but not quite to the point of completely severing his left side from his right. I felt a small amount of bile rising in my stomach, but I was able to contain it and nothing ended up being projected from my mouth. As Titania was working on two of the remaining bandits, the third disengaged from the battle and bolted off into the woods. I started to run after him, but Oscar held his arm in front of me before I took more than a step.

"No matter the foe, Matt, you must fight with honor. That's what separates the Greil Mercenaries from hired killers. Whatever they had done previously, we don't attack non-combatants."

I double-checked to make sure the bandit hadn't turned around and gone into the hut, but a trail leading out of sight that the bandit had left made it clear that he had no interest in seeing this place again. As the bodies of the two that had foolishly fought Titania hit the ground, I started walking to the door of the hut. I wasn't interested in the unnecessary conversation that the game had scripted between the point I was at and the point that Mist and Rolf returned to the fort unharmed.

I kicked open the door to the small hut, which creaked loudly, and saw the last bandit. His back was turned to me, and he was facing the two children, who were seated on the far wall. I could see the two's eyes light up when they saw me, but before the bandit had time to see the face of the one who dropped in on him my knife was in his back. The bandit cried out in pain initially, but a twist of my knife silenced him. I pulled out, and the bandit collapsed, dead in a puddle of his own blood.

"Mist!" I heard Ike yell, as he ran into the room behind me, the rest of the gang right behind him.

"Brother! Everyone! You came!" Mist exclaimed. Rolf had forgone words and ran into Boyd's arms. Oscar soon completed the three-man bro-hug. My adrenaline still not having cooled down enough for sentimental reunions, I walked out of the hut, dragging the dead body of the children's captor behind me.

After leaning the body against the outer wall of the hut, next to the door, I looked up to see the red-tressed paladin looking down at me. She had a questioning look on her face, as though I had preempted something that she knew I wasn't supposed to know.

Shit. That's exactly what I did, wasn't it? How do I explain this? . . .

"Calm yourself, Matt." Titania's look disappeared, and her tone returned to it's normal, motherly state. I knew immediately that I had no cause to raise my guard against her. "I have many questions for you, but I have no intention of judging you whatever your answer may be. You've proven that you don't want any trouble. That much, I do know about you. I intend to learn more later."

At that moment, Shinon emerged from the forest to my left, not so much as breathing heavily despite having run a long distance. He nodded to the commander, surveyed the area, and disdainfully looked at me.

"Looks like your group didn't leave any scraps for me to pick off" he said. "I guess this whole run wasn't worth the rush, was it?"

I could understand Shinon's disappointment, but I wasn't sure how to respond. 'Sorry I didn't any brigands alive for you to kill, old buddy'? I just shrugged in a state of neutrality to Shinon's statement, and left it at that.

Gatrie then emerged from the forest behind Shinon, panting heavily. Looking at all of the armor the guy was wearing, and trying to imagine how hard the run had been on him, I started to feel sorry for the guy.

"Deputy Commander . . . Shinon" Gatrie wheezed out, his words interspersed with plenty of deep breathing. "You're both so cruel. With this armor on, you know I can't run that fast . . ."

Shinon rolled his eyes at the large man, before returning his attention to me. "Enough about you, Gatrie. So how'd the rook do today?"

"Killed two of them, with this" I answered, holding the knife up for the two elder mercenaries to see. Gatrie's eyes widened in surprise. Shinon merely smirked.

"Not bad, kid. So how often did Rhys have to stick himself on you?"

"I wasn't so much as scratched" I deadpanned. Gatrie, who was just seeming to recover his breath, lost it once again at that comment. Shinon's eyes grew wide, and the sniper whistled. "Not bad, scrub. Not bad at all." Titania simply smiled at me, not having any more words to say.

Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Mist and Rolf then emerged from the hut, and Mist promptly ran to me and hugged me. "Thank you, Matt!" she exclaimed, before incoherently going off about how thankful she was into my chest.

Oxygen. Mist. I. Need. Oxygen.

Eventually, Mist's bear-hug relented, and I was able to breathe. Rolf just smiled at me and nodded his thanks, not being one for enthusiastic hugging. I smiled at the kid and ruffled his hair with my hand. I was starting to think he'd open up to me eventually.

"Shinon! Gatrie!" Ike said, looking up from conversation with the Rhys and the brothers. Shinon's mood went from relatively positive at the revelation of my performance to sour.

"So, that's where you went, Titania?" Rhys asked.

"Yeah, I thought we'd need reinforcements" Titania answered, sounding almost disappointed in her judgment. Smugness was apparent on the faces of Boyd and Ike. "Turns out it was a waste of time, but who knows? This battle wasn't a guaranteed win, by any accounts: we had no idea what we were going to be up against until we were here, did we?"

"Sure we did" Ike said, obviously confident. "No matter how many were here, we knew we would be fighting a bunch of bandits. When's the last time bandits have ever been a problem for the Greil Mercenaries?"

"That kind of attitude gets you killed, rook" Shinon snarked back, clearly irked by Ike's overconfidence. "This is why you won't be making decisions for a long time."

"Don't be so harsh on him, Shinon" Titania said softly, clearly knowing Shinon wouldn't respond to her order in any positive way. "Anyway, well done, both of you. I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

"Would've been nice if I could've feathered at least one mook for my trouble" Shinon mumbled.

"It's alright, deputy Commander" Gatrie responded. "I mean, I just ran, but that's all in a day's work. We appreciate feeling needed."

I could see Shinon mumbling a retort to himself at that, but it was incoherent to the rest of us.

Titania, clearly looking to change the subject, redirected the conversation to the two kids. "Mist, Rolf, you two did well. It must've been very frightening for the two of you, going through what you went through."

Mist beamed at the paladin. "Uh-huh . . . wait, no! We didn't stop believing. We knew that all of you would come and rescue us, so we never lost hope! Right, Rolf?" Rolf had been shyly nodding along with Mist's previous statements, and the last one proved to be no exception.

"Really, sis?" Ike sounded skeptical, and the look on his face mirrored that. "That would be an improvement on your usual whimpering and nose-running."

Mist's eyes widened, and she stuttered to get a response out. "I . . . jerk! My nose does-"

"Okay, enough" Titania said, cutting Mist off. "It's been a long day for all of us, hasn't it?" The majority of the group responded with silent nods. "Let's head back to the fort now. Everyone." Titania mounted her horse and started down the road back to the fort. Oscar went to mount his, and everyone followed suit.

* * *

The trip back was uneventful. I kept pace with the group, and a few twists and turns and several minutes later, we were back in the courtyard of the fort. It then occured to me-

_Hello again, Matt._

. . . There it is.

_Have you thought about your explanation?_

Right . . . Titania. How am I going to do this? . . .

_It's not something you need to dwell on so much, Matt. There's a simple solution._

Really now? And what would that be?

_The truth, of course. The truth will set you free._

Right. Because I can just tell her I'm from another world, that I died, somehow resurrected on Tellius, and I know the future of the world because where I come from, their world is a piece of preordained fiction. Good idea, Zen. Idiot! I can't just tell her that!

_Can't you?_

. . . What's that supposed to mean?

_Not every detail is necessary, but where is the harm in the truth? It is not as though you shall be persecuted for it._

Maybe, but it would certainly raise more questions than answers among them, wouldn't it?

_Perhaps. Choose which questions you answer. For there are only so many that you must. Where you are from matters not. That you not only know your future, but their futures? That may be important._

And then what? What'll they see me as, Zen, a seer? Some kind of psychic?

_Most likely, yes. Do you find that problematic?_

Yes, Zen, I fucking do! If they know what I know, they'll want me to take responsibility for it! i.e. preventing unnecessary death, averting unnecessary disaster, and all-around re-writing the course of the game!

_Is that a problem, Matt?_

Hell yes it-

_This isn't a game to them, Matt. Nor should it be to you. This is the world that they live in, that YOU live in. The rules of death apply here just as much as anywhere else._

. . . Is that why I'm here, Zen? To revise the destiny of the continent of Tellius?

_If you wish for that to be your purpose, it is an acceptable one._

. . . I hate you, Zen. You and your stupid cryptic bullshit.

_I'll return soon, Matt. You have business to attend to._

And then he left.

It occurred to me that Titania had been trying to grab my attention. I looked up from the wall I had been leaning against, and walked over to her.

"That wasn't a simple daydream, was it Matt?"

I guess honesty was the best policy, wasn't it? Why not? I decided to go for it.

"No, it wasn't."

She smiled, appreciating the honest response. "I knew as much. Are you haunted by your memories, Matt? Is that why you didn't want to be so open with us yesterday?"

"No, ma'am. I have no memories, honestly."

Her smile faded. "What do you mean by that, Matt? Surely you had a history before we found you in the forest?"

. . . Okay, maybe I should just come clean.

"I know nothing of my past on Tellius, ma'am. I merely know my future."

Cryptic, just as Zen would've put it. If he had a face, I'm sure he was smiling.

She paused for a bit.

". . . And what the hell does that mean, Matt?"

Alright, that was perfect. Time to go blunt.

"I'm a seer, deputy Commander." Okay, that'll need some more explanation. "I honestly know nothing of my past. However, I have knowledge of events leading up to over a year from now. I knew Mist and Rolf were going to be kidnapped before it happened. I knew the path to the bandit hideout where they were being held. And I knew the location of the last bandit who would've otherwise been killed by Shinon, with his axe mere inches from Rolf's neck."

Titania's eyes widened. That, clearly, was not the explanation she had been expecting. She furrowed her brow, trying to formulate another question.

"All I have to go by as far as my past . . ." I reached into my pocket, and pulled out my iPhone "is what was on me at the time you found me". Titania simply stared at the object for a long period of time. "Between this artifact, and the strange clothes in which I was dressed" I gestured to my black t-shirt, grey denim jeans, and green vans® "I'm almost inclined to believe I am not from this world".

She nodded in understanding, although the perplexed look didn't leave her face.

"If that is all, deputy Commander, I'm afraid I can't answer any more questions."

Titania nodded. "The Commander will most likely have questions of his own for you in the morning, Matt Wilson." I nodded, figuring as much. "If you have future sight, as you say you do, you'll most likely be working tomorrow. Such an ability would surely be priceless on the battlefield." I smiled in anticipation, before suddenly realizing how tired I was feeling. The sun was setting, and dinner would surely soon be on the table, but I had a mind for nothing but sleep.

"If that is all, deputy Commander, I need to rest. I've had a lot on my mind."

Though not quite a smile, Titania did give me a sort of sympathetic look and nodded. "By my leave. You may retire for the night, Matt. Be sure to grab your dinner on the way, though. Even if hunger doesn't beckon, you need sustenance to operate effectively in battle."

I nodded, and headed into the mess hall, Titania close behind. Everyone else in the group was seated around the table, eating quietly. I saw a plate with a roll of bread and a fillet on it, laying in front of the empty seat where I had been sitting that morning. Mist smiled at me, but as I picked up the plate and headed into the kitchen her smile gave way to a confused look.

I took the bread roll and stuffed it into my mouth whole, garnering a few laughs from the young girl. I took the fillet in one hand, and with the other I placed the wooden plate on the counter next to what was apparently a medieval sink. Before I forgot, I took the butcher knife from my pocket, ran some water, and scraped off the dried bandit blood with my fingernails. I rinsed off the plate as well, before leaving both items on the counter in the designated area for dirty dishes. As I left the kitchen and crossed the mess hall to my room's hallway, I noticed several questioning looks from the younger mercenaries. Boyd was the only one of them to speak.

"What's up, rook? Couldn't sit down for a meal?"

"That's enough, Boyd." Greil responded for me. Titania winked at me, and I knew I was clear to go to my room. I entered the hall, took a left turn into my room, and locked the door behind me upon going in.

I laid down on my bed and lost myself in my thoughts. Who was I now? What was I going to do here, on Tellius? How would I contribute to the effort during the war? How would I survive after it?

_These questions can wait, Matt._

Hello again, Zen. You have business, I'm guessing.

_No, but your friend does._

. . . What friend is this, Zen?

_Check your inbox._

I pulled my phone out and touched the screen. The "slide to unlock" screen came up, but in the center of the screen was a new text message. From . . . Nate! I read the text.

"If you're reading this, then you have explaining to do."

I sighed. As much as I missed Nate and wanted to tell him everything about where I was, how I had gotten there, and what I was planning on doing, it wasn't something that I wanted to put myself through right then. I unlocked the phone, and put my thumbs to work on a response.

"Later, bro. Tellius has a way of tiring you out. Long story short: I'm in the band." I wrote. I knew full well that the answer I had chosen would guarantee another text in less than 30 seconds, but I had no intention of answering that quickly. I set the phone down under the bed, pulled the fur blanket over myself, and rolled over so I faced the wall. Tired as I was, sleep overtook me almost instantly.

* * *

AN: I'm really sorry about the wait on this chapter. It should not have taken me two weeks to finish 'chapter 1'. As for the dramatically increased length, that'll be standard fare for my chapters in the future. The prologue was simply an explanation for the story, this is where I'm going to be going all-out to immerse myself (and you all) into the world as much as possible. Was I over-detailed in this chapter? If you said so, I wouldn't disagree.

Anyway, I should hopefully have the next chapter up in another week's time. At most, the time between chapters will be limited to two weeks. I should never need anything more than that to produce a chapter worth reading. Feel free to hold me to that statement as much as you want.

Thanks for reading. I'll be looking forward to your reviews. Next chapter will be up sooner rather than later. Thank you.


	4. Chapter 2: In With a Bang

AN: Okay, this is overdue. I'll take the heat for it. Even after I used rationalization to talk myself into procrastinating on my due date, I still had this chapter projected to be up by the end of April. The best reason I have for this is my upcoming AP European History exam and Algebra II SOL (which, until recently, were scheduled to be on the same day). Not that I've been studying that hard, because I'm hardly accountable in that respect either.

So . . . anyway, time for reviews!

Hannahbananaonthesavanna: The knife-user schtick was really coming from more of a making-do-with-what's-available angle, but I think I could develop some knife skills in Matt anyway. At this point, I was planning to just throw as many different weapons into his hands as possible and just seeing what sticks. Right now, I'm leaning toward anything besides lances, based on prior experience and knowing what they're actually like (Matt's history is based on my own, everything I say about him is true about me). But I like what you're saying, we'll see how that goes. As for the original dialogue, that was really just a way of cutting effort, but if it's a good thing than I won't mess with it. I believe I've fixed all of the mistakes that you were referencing, and I appreciate your critique of my language. Thank you for your consistent, thoughtful reviews.

Angel Of Darkness And Light: I wasn't sure about that myself, but look up pancakes on Wikipedia: they've been around for hundreds of years. As for the warrior-overnight thing, that won't happen: Matt's success thus far has been limited to a backstabbing and taking advantage of a single enemy's idiocy/misjudgment. He'll have received far more combat training/experience before I thrust him into any large battles. I'll address your last question in the second AN at the end of the chapter in an address to everyone. Thank you for your thoughtful reviews; I eagerly await more of them.

ChaosRevanLord: Thank you for the abrupt-but-positive review.

Yeah, it's time for the chapter. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Chapter 2!

* * *

Chapter 2: In With A Bang

My phone woke me up at 5:30, this time to Theophilus London's _All Around the World_. I yawned loudly, stretched my arms a little, and rolled off of my bed. After turning off my phone to keep a healthy level of battery life on it, I stowed the device in my left pocket and started toward the mess hall.

The night was still dark as upon entering the hall my mind was consumed by thoughts of what the commanders would have in store for me, in the wake of the day before's events. If my memory of the game was correct, the four mercenaries that I had traveled with to the bandit hideout had all received ten day quarter-confinement sentences; although I had little memory of those punishments ever truly being enforced. Besides, between my entry-level knowledge of the band's rules and my foresight of the events' ultimate outcome, I figured Titania would vouch for me were Greil reluctant to grant me a free pass.

I arrived in the mess hall, this time with every mercenary accounted for, and took a seat on the end and side closest to me; next to Boyd and across from Ike. Both were gorging themselves on their breakfast – this time bacon and eggs – and obviously had no time or desire to engage me in conversation. That suited me just fine. I took my fork and knife and started shoveling eggs into my mouth as rapidly as possible, trying to avoid starting conversation with the commanders and/or being at the table long enough for someone else to do so.

_Why do you wish so much to avoid conversation, Matt?_

Bug off, Zen. Mornings in conjunction with people aren't my idea of a good time. Mornings in conjunction with people who have questions for me that I don't want to answer generally result in situations that I prefer to avidly avoid. Hence, I'm avidly avoiding one.

_And why is it that you want to keep these secrets, Matt?_

I'm my own person, and I'm entitled to my privacy. I know things that I'd rather these people don't. Isn't that a good enough answer for you?

_These people trust you, Matt. You're a part of their family. You don't have to hide from them, and they don't want you to. Why don't you open up to them?_

What, are you inside their heads as well?

_I choose only to speak to you, Matt, but yes, I have a limited ability to read the thoughts of those around you based on whether or not certain circumstances apply._

Well, isn't that flattering. Aren't I the lucky one?

_Consider my advice, Matt. You have an important day ahead of you._

Those words were closely followed by the intangible sensation of his leaving. Stupid little bugger always has to leave on a strange note, doesn't he? . . .

"Something bothering you, Matt?" Titania asked, suddenly standing right behind me. I snapped out of my trance and took in my surroundings: over the course of my telepathic conversation with Zen, I hadn't taken a bite of food, while other mercenaries were finishing the last of their breakfasts or had already resorted to standing around the mess hall. The conversation had only lasted a little under a minute, but I hadn't exactly been early to the party.

"No, deputy commander, I'm fine." I tried to balance enough respect and dismissal in my answer to dissuade her from further talking to me. "Just thinking."

"Yes, Matt, that much was obvious" Greil interjected from across the room, having just walked into the mess hall from the kitchen. His gruff voice and stern expression, combined with the surprise of his comment had caused me to flinch. "It's good that you think, Matt. Those who do generally live longer, especially on the battlefield." I smiled briefly at that compliment, but Greil's unwavering expression encouraged me to wipe the look off my face. "There's little time for that now, though. The others have gone to suit up for battle; Mist and Rolf will be the only two remaining here today. You have no combat equipment to use, and I was hesitant to assign you to a mission before acquiring some for you, but Titania has convinced me that you have . . . other purposes, for being at a battlefield. Purposes that you'd turn into events that we'd be benefactors of."

. . . Well then, way to be uncharacteristically ominous, Commander. Not that I don't know what you're talking about, but-

"You're coming with me to Port Talma today, Matt" Titania chimed in, before turning to the rest of the mercenaries. "You three as well, Ike, Shinon and Gatrie" she said, looking at each of the mercenaries that she referenced as they were. Shinon and Gatrie, who had been quietly talking near the far wall directly across from me, leaning against the cut-out counter, nodded. Ike withdrew from a conversation with the two older green-haired brothers at the sound of his name, but didn't catch what was said beyond that.

"Oscar, Boyd, Rhys. You come with me." Greil's gruff voice lightened slightly, before starting toward the double-doors at the end of his sentence. Ike, now understanding why Titania had called him, nodded in understanding. Ike's eyes then widened, as though he had just remembered something, before he opened his mouth to speak.

"But Father, about-" he started, before being cut off by an elbow in the ribs from Boyd. Oscar's body language reflected a brief thought of somehow scolding his more chaotic brother, but quickly gave way to a shrug and resumption of his normal, even, almost apathetic expression.

"About what, Ike? You have a mission ahead of you, now's not the time to be thinking of other things." He paused for a moment, his facial expression combined with the silence intended to let the disapproval sink in to the boy. "Oscar, Boyd, Rhys, let's go" he abruptly added, before exiting the mess hall. The three quietly followed, happy enough to have avoided the conversation about ignoring Titania's orders.

"Come now, you four" Titania called from the door back to Ike, Shinon, Gatrie and I. "We didn't wake up before the break of dawn because Talma is only ten minutes away." Ike groaned before complying, while the rest of us quietly followed Titania out the door.

I exited the fort with the rest of Titania's group, right behind the mercenaries that Greil had called on. Titania left momentarily to follow Oscar, who'd begun walking to the base of the hill upon which the fort had been built to retrieve his mount. At that moment, I realized how strange I must've looked to the bandits yesterday, or to any passerby, in the midst of this group of trained warriors. Excluding Rhys, each must've had at least 15-30 pounds of leather or metal armor on their persons, in addition to around 5 pounds of weaponry. And here I was, in my black t-shirt, grey denim pants and green vans. I didn't even slightly resemble anyone from this world, let alone the men on its battlefields.

"We'll get you outfitted soon enough, rook" Shinon whispered in my ear reassuringly, reading my thoughts. "It's clear you're self-conscious of your lack of equipment, and you've done enough to convince me that you're not a complete liability on the battlefield. If keeping Ike healthy is worth a leather brassard and some gauntlets, you've got to be worth at least a decent weapon, and a bracer or two." Shinon chuckled at that last statement. I thought of making a point of Shinon's own lack of armor, but didn't have any plans as to how to direct that conversation and ultimately decided against it.

Titania and Oscar re-emerged from the stables and rejoined the group, and the squads wordlessly split to go their separate ways. Titania led our group out of the fort's west exit, apparently in the direction of Fort Talma. The sun had just started to rise, and the sky had a pale-blue-to-orange gradience, with very few clouds to disrupt it's continuity.

The rough excuse for a road that we had started on was surrounded on all sides by high-reaching deciduous trees, and traversed a span of land that had scattered hills but was otherwise remarkably even. No running water was within earshot, nor were any wild animals, and the air carried no wind. The walk to Talma was remarkably silent for the first several minutes.

Except for the constant clanging of Gatrie's cumbersome plate mail, of course.

"So, rookie . . . your name's Matt, right?" The spoken-of armored titan broke the however-many-minute-long silence after having walked next to me for just as long a time.

"Yes. And you're Gatrie, right?" I asked, out of courtesy, not curiosity. This was my first time talking to the man, as it was.

The big man smiled down at me and laughed. "So, you know me already. I'm always the last one to introduce myself to the new guys, it seems." He chuckled a bit at the 'guys' part. I gave enough of a reaction that he'd know I understood why. "But yeah, I'm Gatrie. Nice to meet you, Matt. Welcome to the team."

He reached his gloved hand out to me, which I firmly shook. His glove felt extremely stiff, as though it had the thickness of two leather gloves, one worn over the other. Looking up to make eye contact with him, I realized he must've been around six and a half feet. His body complex brought on comparisons to offensive linemen from back on the gridiron on Earth; combined with his hair and eyes, he reminded me of a certain offensive tackle from the Detroit Lions named Riley Reiff. I remembered that Reiff was behind Jeff Backus on the Lions' depth chart at LT, but Backus was in his mid-30s and prone to retire at any point. I made a mental note to check up on the progress of the NFL when I returned to the base, although who started at left tackle for the Lions was a moot point for me anyway. Julius Peppers would consistently get the better of whoever Detroit could line up at that spot anyway, so why'd it matter? Bear down, Lions, you've still got several years of divisional inferiority ahead of you. Meanwhile, my Bears will be making the playoffs.

Ah, football . . .

"You there, Matt?" Gatrie asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Uhhhh . . ." I was slow to respond. "Yeah, I'm still here. Did you say something?"

"Is this something you do a lot, rook?" Gatrie asked, sounding somewhat concerned.

I tilted my head involuntarily, signaling my confusion.

"You know, this zoning out thing. It seems like you've done it a lot the past few days. Is that just normal for you?" Gatrie inquired.

"It is disconcerting" Titania interjected. "That habit is the biggest reason Greil fought me on letting you come with us on this mission."

"How'd Greil know?" I asked, not remembering hanging out with the commander long enough that he'd notice such a thing.

"You were a hot topic over dinner last night, rook" Shinon added, leaving Ike as the only mercenary not contributing to the conversation. "We don't have a whole lot of noteworthy activity around the fort to talk about, and our lives have been stuck in a monotonous cycle of slaying idiots and receiving paltry pay for it for the longest time."

Titania's face represented distaste at Shinon's phrasing, but she allowed him to continue.

"You? You, by far, are the biggest dose of change our group has seen in several years. It would've been enough had you just been a new member to the band, but one without any sort of tangible past, combat skills, or knowledge of the world? You, my friend, are a very intriguing story. The Commander has taken a peculiar set of characters under his wing over time, to be sure: most of us in the group have strange stories to tell. You, however, completely broke any sort of mould that there might have been."

Titania and Gatrie both nodded with every one of Shinon's points. I nodded, understanding that the circumstances that had brought me to where I was were puzzling at best and downright sketchy at worst. I still had a single question, though.

"If that's the case" I started, "why am I here? Why has the commander chosen to accept the responsibility of letting me into the group?"

"I'd like to know that even more than you do, rook" Shinon answered.

"All we know is that the commander has proven to have good judgment, and it's been spot-on often enough to earn our trust" Gatrie finished.

"As have you, Matt" Titania butted in, cutting off Shinon as he opened his mouth to say something more. "You've already proven to be a valuable addition to the group, and while you're raw, you've excited both the commander and I with your ethic, attitude and potential. We've grown comfortable enough with you to accept your story, or lack of one, Matt. You have our trust."

Shinon clearly wasn't to pleased with Titania's interruption, but he and Gatrie both gave me nonverbal signs of agreement. I had apparently breached the inner circle of everyone in the Greil Mercenaries. Hopefully, there would be no more interrogative conversations about my past.

Until Soren returns, at least, I thought.

"Is there anything else you want to talk about, Matt?" Titania asked.

"Yes" I answered. Now that I had been thinking of Soren, I wanted to know what the rest of the group would have to say about him. Besides, I figured asking ought to produce enough idle chatter to hold my attention over until we reached Talma. "I was told there was another of your number that I haven't met yet, a mage named Soren." At Soren's name Ike's ears perked up, and Shinon groaned. The former, who'd been walking several yards in front of the group, distant and uninvolved in any previous conversation, suddenly returned to us at a brisk pace. "What can you guys tell me about him?"

Ike picked up that bit of conversation, saying something about how Soren was really a nice guy, albeit terribly misunderstood. Shinon rebuked Ike's statements harshly, clearly having no love for Ike or the mage whom they were addressing. Titania and Gatrie occasionally provided some input, but neither had a strong enough opinion either way to join Ike and Shinon's debate, which hastily degraded below rationality. I took the words of Titania and Gatrie to heart: essentially, Soren was a brainchild with a keen tactical mind and exceptionally acute magical abilities, and a great ally to have in the war room or on the field, but his terrible social skills and quick temper made him a potential hazard at the table of diplomacy. Additionally, the aforementioned traits combined with his largely unknown past and unwillingness to open up to people alienated other members of the group, limiting the amount of chemistry he was able to form with the team as a whole. He had asked leave from Commander Greil to travel to Melior to pursue an education nearly a year earlier, which Greil approved, believing that such a journey would also serve to at least partially alleviate Soren's other issues.

Our walk proceeded like that for quite a while; Titania and Gatrie imparted the important information to me relatively quickly, leaving us to listen to Ike and Shinon bicker incessantly for the duration of the trip. The subject of their argument changed periodically; Soren's personality was eventually abandoned as a point of conversation, and most of their remarks were personal attacks, whether it be their lifestyle choices, combat skills, social success or relationships with other mercenaries. This carried on for what seemed like hours, until eventually we were at the summit of a hill overlooking Port Talma.

* * *

Talma appeared to be little more than a quaint port, but I still absorbed every detail of the first contemporary settlement I had seen. The buildings were built of stone bricks, which were also used in the formation of a wall which not only surrounded the port town but divided it into sections. Faded brown shingles adorned the roofs of the buildings, which stood at about the same height as the stacks of crates next to them, which in turn approximately matched the height of the walls. The one side of the town that wasn't at the base of a hill bordered the water, in which sat a bannerless ship that possessed in itself the breadth of the entire town. As we walked down the hill to the town, the dirt road we had been on gave way to a stone path, which in turn gave way to a stone-floored plaza surrounded by stacks of crates, several houses and a few trees that had height and branches reminiscent of small fruit trees. As soon as we entered this plaza, and old man with white hair, blue attire and a hunched back approached Titania as fast as his elderly frame could carry him.

"That's the pirate ship in question, isn't it?" Titania asked the man matter-of-factly, apparently not needing an introduction.

"Aye" he answered, equally calm and even-toned. "They sailed into port a few days ago and have been causing trouble ever since. I pray that you and your companions can drive them away."

"I understand" she answered. "We'll do all we can."

"Feathering sea scum is like shooting apples off a tree" Shinon scoffed. "We could just do the job and get out of here . . . or we could give Matt here a blunt stick and watch him single-handedly drive them away. Which sounds better to you, deputy commander?"

"Matt's not here as a combatant, but I see your point" Titania answered. I was surprised that Titania would concede such a point to Shinon; Ike's face signaled that I was not the only one thinking that. The paladin then turned her attention to the blue-haired mercenary. "Ike, how many iron swords are you carrying right now?"

"Ummm . . ." Ike started, before counting the swords he had attached to his belt. "Four, Deputy Commander" he finally answered. Shinon and Gatrie's faces displayed a look of surprise, before Shinon's gave way to a disdainful facepalm.

"Ike . . . " Shinon started, in an almost-angry but calm and mostly disdainful tone. "Why the hell do you have four swords with you?" Gatrie raised an eyebrow and nodded at Shinon's question, making it clear that he wanted to know the answer as much as the sniper did. Ike paused for a while, apparently not having a particularly good answer on the tip of his tongue. Or, for that matter, anywhere in his head.

"I don't really know, honest-"

"Doesn't matter now" Titania said, cutting off Ike's useless answer. "Give one of them to Matt; if he's going to be on or near the battlefield, he needs a competent weapon." Ike hastily and unquestioningly removed a sheathed iron sword from his belt and reached out to me with the tool in his hand. I took it, and was surprised at how light the weapon actually was. It wasn't that the game depicted them as being burdeningly heavy, but I anticipated a loftier weapon than the one I was holding, which I estimated to be maybe five pounds, give or take.

"You've shown that you have some skill wielding a knife in our last battle, Matt, but don't make the mistake of being cocky in the face of an enemy" Titania said. I nodded, prompting her to continue. "Swords may not seem that different from knives at first, but they're completely different beasts in battle, at least as far as how they're used. The Commander can teach you more later. For now, focus on preventing any brutes from getting past our front to Shinon. Don't leave his side" she finished, the direction in which she was looking made it clear that her last command was more aimed at Shinon than at me. Shinon nodded and smirked, clearly confident in his ability to bodyguard me.

"Well then, Deputy Commander!" Gatrie enthusiastically pulled Titania's attention from our now-finished exchange. "You want standard thunder and lightning maneuvers here?"

Ike's eyebrow rose. "Er . . . Thunder and lightning?" The blue-headed swordsman quizzically asked.

"Yeah!" Gatrie responded, maintaining his enthusiasm. "I crash into 'em like thunder, and Shinon rains arrows down on 'em like lightning!" Shinon nodded in agreement at the end of the armored knight's statement.

". . . Okay, that sounds like a solid plan" Titania responded, before turning her attention to Ike and I. "Scrap that plan, Matt, Shinon and Gatrie will take care of the grounded pirates by themselves. Ike, we're going to just stick around the town and take out what comes at us until Shinon and Gatrie have cleared the area out. Once we've secured the land, we'll rush the boat as a team and clear out whatever's left. Sound like a plan?" Ike nodded and removed himself from the conversation, proceeding to prepare himself for the imminent battle. Titania's attention moved on to me.

"So, Matt" Titania started, her voice having changed to a questioning tone. "You're a seer, or so you say. That's why I convinced Greil to let me bring you here. Can you tell me what we should expect in this battle?"

I racked my memory for anything about Path of Radiance's chapter 3: Pirates Aground, trying to come up with some basic information. I remembered there being about . . . 15 enemies, give or take two, with the boss, Havetti, stationed aboard the ship with about half of the mooks. And, of course, Marcia would come out of nowhere and do her seemingly random schtick once we got in the vicinity of the vessel.

"The total amount of pirates we'll be dealing with is approximately fifteen" my mouth reiterated to Titania. "Their commander, Havetti, an axe-wielding brute, is at the rear of the ship's deck. The vast majority of them use axes as their primary weapons, and only a couple of them have ranged capabilities." Titania motionlessly absorbed everything that I was saying. "In addition to that, a pink-headed pegasus knight will arrive once we've nearly approached the boat."

At the words "pegasus knight" Gatrie's head turned in my direction. Which wouldn't have been that weird, except I was nearly whispering to Titania while Gatrie was standing what must've been 25 yards away, immersed in his own conversation with Shinon. Titania merely gave me a questioning, eyebrow-raised look, and I nodded affirmatively with what I had said, hoping she'd just trust me until she saw Marcia showing up for herself. She led her horse away from me and to the approximate center of the triangle that I, a diverted Ike and the two distracted older mercenaries had formed, which stretched across half of the plaza.

"Okay, Greil Mercenaries!" She called, not quite at a yelling volume, but a loud enough one to grab all of our attention from a significant distance away. "It's time for us to converge on the ship. You've all received your orders, so there's no more reason to waste time. Move out!" The others nodded and fell into line behind Titania's steed as she led it closer to the port at a gradually-increasing pace.

Moments later, after having jogged maybe a mere 50 yards from the plaza, we crossed into territory that I recognized from the game. I did a quick-take of my surroundings to locate the map's key points: the house with the open door on the right which contained Nasir, waiting with an elixir, and the plank leading up to the ship that was hidden from view behind the house and wall to the left.

On the ship's rear deck I could make out one of the pirates staring us down, as if he were gauging how much of a hazard we would be to his endeavors. The pirate, who I assumed to be the captain, made eye contact with Titania. The pirate captain then narrowed his eyes, pointed his axe at our group, and let out an animalistic yell. Upon hearing his yell, the landed mooks took up their arms and advanced toward us.

Just in time for Shinon to release a nocked arrow directly into the chest of one, who had had the unfortunate burden of being closest to our group when the battle began. Three of the other axe-totters moved forward to avenge their fallen comrade, but were rudely intercepted by Gatrie before reaching their desired destination.

"Stand back, rook" Shinon said to me, without looking back, as he nocked a second arrow. "Watch and learn. Gatrie and I will show you how it's done." At the word 'done', Shinon let his second arrow fly into another axe-wielding pirate's neck, killing him instantly. Titania held Ike and I a solid twenty yards behind the two seniors at the base of the steps in the level's road, protecting us as we watched and learned.

The two remaining pirates swung their axes at Gatrie simultaneously, but the knight was able to parry both with his lance, allowing Shinon enough time to feather one in his left temple. Three more pirates, this time including an archer, emerged from behind the left wall to reinforce their comrades, having realized that the two were a greater threat than initially anticipated.

As I watched the scene, the lineman comparisons that I had drawn from Gatrie only strengthened when his coordination with Shinon was considered. The two's setup was reminiscent of a quarterback and his offensive line: Gatrie's game was clearly more focused on preventing the passage of enemies to Shinon, while Shinon was using his breathing room to pick off the enemies that engaged Gatrie. As for the archer, Shinon was able to track and avoid the rogue blitzer, as a great quarterback would, before swiftly incapacitating him with a taste of his own medicine. What made this even more impressive was how quickly it was executed: maybe a mere 30 seconds after the battle had begun, the two senior mercenaries had begun to advance to the ship, leaving no less than seven dead bodies in pools of blood in their wake.

"Impressive, aren't they?" Titania asked casually, not turning to face either me or Ike. Ike simply nodded, which Titania somehow managed to acknowledge without actually seeing.

"I'd say they're impressive, for sure" I replied. My attention had moved on from the dead bodies in the street to the ship's deck. As Gatrie and Shinon approached the ship, I patiently waited for the pink-haired pegasus knight to do the same.

"Hey! You! Boat Monkey!" A petulant-sounding voice rung out in the distance, in the direction of the boat's front. Titania and Ike, both looking quite surprised, redirected their attention toward the voice's point of origin as it's owner came into view. "You tricked me, didn't you?" Titania's eyes went wide as the pegasus knight came into view, pink hair clearly visible on her head. Titania turned to me, clearly trying to find words for me, although her face told me everything that she was thinking. As amused as I was at her expression, I cut her off as she started stuttering.

"Titania! Matt! Let's go!" Ike had already started in the direction of the ship.

"Make sure Ike talks to the pegasus knight" I told the paladin. "You know, have him introduce himself, us, explain that we're here to deal with the pirates. Nothing will come of it now, but her friendship will be helpful down the line." Titania's expression informed me that she was listening to me and absorbing my words but was also unsure about whether she should be adhering to them. As she started to form a response, I cut her off, saying "Go, reinforce Shinon and Gatrie with Ike. I've got some important business to take care of in that building." I pointed toward the open house that Nasir awaited me in as I finished that sentence before subsequently bolting toward it, not wanting to wait for Titania's response.

I ran the short distance from the top of the short steps at the level's entry to the door of the building quickly, before slowing to a walk as I entered the building. The sign on the outside gave away that the building was a sort of meal-and-lodging spot for ship operators and crewmen who used the port, which explained why Nasir was there. Except the only ship in the port that I had seen belonged to pirates. Whatever, that was another question for another time.

I scanned the candle-lit inn for the white-haired dragon, but the only things that stuck out to me were the loud drunks seated at the tables and the arm-wrestling matches and card games that some brute-looking men were engaging in across them. I hazarded a guess that there were between 5 and 10 pirates in the hall that were unaware of the events occurring outside, although some might've been too drunk to participate anyway. I did another take of the bar, thinking that a serene grandfather-dragon would stand out like a sore thumb in such an environment, but was once again met with disappointment.

"This town seems quite unruly, wouldn't you say?" I turned around, startled, trying to locate the owner of the voice, assuming from the words that it was Nasir addressing me. I looked at the wall behind me, only 3-4 feet to the right of the door, and saw a man that could've only been Nasir. Unless there were multiple forehead-marked, white-haired, tall men in the bar, that was. Upon making eye contact with him, he sent me an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I thought you had already noticed me" he said, running a hand through his long hair. "Anyway, this port, is it always this dangerous?"

"No, sir." I responded, looking up at the dragon-sailor. I didn't know if it was just par-for-the-course for the dragon tribe, but Nasir seemed like a big fellow, considering his age. He looked like he must've been between 6'4" and 6'5", and his build suggested that he must've weighed in at around 230-240 pounds.

"Call me Nasir, son" he responded in a welcoming tone, apparently assuming intimidation on my part. I wasn't scared of him, but he was a surprisingly imposing figure, and I couldn't really say he was wrong. He looked at me and nodded, beckoning me to answer his initial question.

"It's currently under the thumb of a group of pirates, you see." I responded quietly, drawing a non-verbal response of understanding from the man. I continued with my explanation in a hushed tone, not wanting to attract the attention of any pirates in the tavern. "I'm here with a group of mercenaries" I said, gesturing to Ike's sword, the sheath of which I had attached to my belt loop. "We're here to clear them out." Nasir raised his eyebrows in surprise, before resuming his normal expression and nodding in understanding.

"I see . . . " he started, matching my quiet tone. "That would explain why the people here seem so anxious. You seem so very . . . young. And you claim you were hired to rid the town of these pesky pirates?" I nodded along with everything that he said. He started to dig around under his cloak for something, which I presumed to be his elixir. "Here, perhaps you should take this", he said, removing a vial of blue liquid from under his cloak and reaching out to me with the hand in which he held it, the top half of the vial pointing in my direction. I wrapped my fingers around the vial's neck and transferred the elixir to my pocket. "It might help you if you run into trouble contending with the pirates" he said, smiling at me. I nodded my appreciation. "I'd guess that there's probably 5 to 10 of them in here, actually. I would've acted sooner if I had known that they were pirates, but I had just chalked their strange behavior up to their excessive drinking."

"So you've been interacting with them?" I asked, wanting to know which of them were pirates so I could inform the others before we left.

Nasir laughed, quietly but heartily. "You could say I've been interacting with them. A few of the ones I assume now are pirates challenged me to an arm-wrestling match when I first got here. They thought that I was sketchy due to my avoidance of them, and wanted to size me up, I guess. I beat the first one, much to the surprise of everyone else in the building. They all chalked it up to either strange coincidence or weakness on the part of their friend initially, but after I beat the second and third ones they started to ostracize me out of fear."

I put on a fake surprised face, not wanting to give away to Nasir my knowledge of his laguz-hood. If I didn't know, after all, the story of a white-haired man beating three pirates in a match of strength would've been unbelievable, no matter how big and strong he looked for his age.

"That's both an interesting and impressive tale, Nasir." I attempted to whistle for effect, to which the man laughed lightly. "No offense, but you don't look like the kind of man who could beat pirates in a game of strength."

Nasir smirked. "I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve for such things. Most of them are well-guarded secrets. Maybe if we meet again, I'll share some of them with you" he said, chuckling.

"Perhaps, if we meet again." I smiled at the idea of foreshadowing the game's plot, before remembering that I had a second question. "Can you tell me which of them are pirates, so that my friends and I can take care of them?"

"Don't worry about them" he responded, dismissively. "I can take care of them, and save you guys the trouble. It's the least I can do for you all, seeing as you're doing most of the work for peanuts for the benefit of guys like me."

I smiled and nodded my appreciation, before asking "How exactly are you going to do that, Nasir?"

He chuckled again. "Like I said before, I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve. Don't worry about it." He paused, before asking "What's your name anyway, son?"

I realized that I hadn't yet introduced myself. "Oh, I'm sorry, my name's Matt" I responded, "Matt Wilson."

Nasir nodded. "Well Matt, I greatly appreciate what your company is doing here. I don't know if I've told you this yet, but I'm a relatively prominent ship operator along the Crimean coast and in Begnion. If you or your company ever have any need of my services, consider me at your beck and call."

I nodded appreciatively, with a sudden mental image of Nasir handing me a business card popping into my head, before promptly thanking the man and turning to leave the inn. As I closed the door behind myself, I could peripherally see him walking toward the tables in the middle of the tavern, and as I walked away from the building I could hear panicked screams from deep voices escaping from it. As I turned away from the building and back to where I was walking, I saw the other mercenaries engaged in a conversation with the mayor in the middle of the street, which caused me to realize how long my conversation with Nasir had really taken. All of them were now looking at me questioningly, hearing the same ruckus from the inn that I had just walked out of, except Shinon, who was giving me his signature look of approval.

"There you are, rook" Shinon said in a proud tone, not breaking his smile. "I was going to wait until after the battle to hit the bar, but I have to give you credit. I mean, I should've realized sooner: a bar in a town of bandits would obviously be loaded with them. But hey, I'm proud of you for learning so quickly. I'll make something of you yet." He patted me on the back before sharing an obligatory intricate hand-shake number with Gatrie, who gave me a nod of approval and smile of his own.

Shinon's explanation caused the confused look on Ike and the Mayor's faces to dissipate with nods of understanding, but Titania still looked to be left with questions. The mayor gave me an appreciative nod and smile, before dismissing himself from the conversation. With apparently no more words left to exchange, the others turned around and started to leave the port premises, with me following. As we started back on the road to the fort, Titania beckoned for me to join her on the saddle.

"What business did you have in the inn, Matt?" The paladin asked quietly, not wanting to draw the other three into the conversation. "While Shinon's explanation makes sense, I have a feeling that you're motives were constituted by more than just dealing with a few drunk pirates."

I pulled the elixir out of my left jeans pocket and showed it to her in response, causing her to raise her eyebrows in surprise in response, before beckoning me to elaborate. "Establishing a contact that we're going to be calling on for the services of, sooner rather than later" I responded matter-of-factually, matching the paladin's hushed tone. "The elixir was just a personal gift intended to help me with combatting the pirates, but now I think it's use is best left to you and the Commander's discretion." Not looking to explain yet who the contact was or why we were going to be needing him, I decided to change the topic of conversation. "So, how'd Ike's meeting with Marcia go?" I asked marginally louder, hoping one of the other three would overhear and I could inconspicuously carry the conversation out of Titania's control.

Gatrie must've overheard, because he immediately cracked up and turned his head in my direction. "Oh, the pink-headed pegasus knight?" He asked, futilely trying to stifle his laughter in his large mitt. "She totally had a thing for Ikey-boy over there" Gatrie said, causing Shinon to smirk. "I don't think I've ever seen another man put himself in such a position and be THAT dense about it!"

Ike, like he had been on the road to Talma, was walking far ahead of the group and was isolated from the conversation.

"Reason number nine-thousand-and-one why Ike is NEVER going to get it in" Shinon contributed smugly, laughing at his own emphasis on the word 'never'. "He didn't even realize that he had an opportunity there, let alone how rare one that obvious is!"

"Oh, I'm sure he'll understand soon enough." Gatrie responded, sounding almost as though he simultaneously pitied and envied the mercenary in question. "He's still a boy, but he's got hormones too. They'll start acting up eventually."

Titania led her mount up between Shinon and Gatrie, reached down, and tried to slap the back of both of their heads, to which they synchronically ducked. Now walking behind Titania's mount, the two shared a fist-pump.

"To Ike's chagrin, she rambled incessantly about how much she was indebted to him, and promised to eventually pay it back." I realized mid-sentence that I hadn't diverted from the conversation quite enough, so I snickered loudly at the phrase 'pay it back'. Which, fortunately, prompted explosive laughter from the two senior mercenaries.

"See!? This kid gets it! He's not even as old as Ike is!" Shinon hysterically yelled, before walking up next to Titania and slapping me on the back.

"How obvious did she have to make it that she was talking about SEX!?" Gatrie yelled, with just as much hysteria as Shinon, before coming up on Titania's other side and high-fiving me. Titania gave me a mock-disgusted look, before unceremoniously pushing me off of her mount, rewarding me with more laughter from the other two.

"See guys, look what you've done!" Titania mock-yelled. "I can't even have a normal conversation with the boy because of how much you two have perverted him!"

The two each extended a hand to me as I hit the ground, allowing me to quickly pull myself back up. Having exhausted the fuel for that conversation, the two each smiled at me, and continued to walk more-or-less silently.

Satisfied with my diversion from the conversation about Nasir, I withdrew from the current discussion and started to ponder my conversation with him. If I was here to intervene in the story and cut unnecessary losses, was there a way I could take advantage of the dragon's offer to that end?

With nothing else to do, I pointlessly continued that train of thought until we returned to the fort.

* * *

After Titania had followed him into the room, Greil closed and locked the door, before sitting down across the table from me, the paladin seating herself to his right. I had been asked to privately discuss "some issues" with the man, which I had already assumed but Zen confirmed were related to his and Titania's understanding, or lack of, concerning my foresight.

"Look, Matt" Greil started, "the first thing I want to get across to you is that you are in no way, shape or form in a compromising position right now. Titania and I do not wish to extort any sort of information from you that you are not willing to share. We just want to establish an understanding." Titania nodded affirmatively with everything Greil was saying.

"You say you're a seer, Matt," Titania started. I gave her a nod of confirmation, beckoning her to continue. "Yet you've clearly got a much bigger story. On your first official mission with the troop, you prompted Ike into a tactical move in the interest of the company's distant future, which you later made into a sexual joke to avoid discussing, and then diverted yourself from the battle to make another one on your own." Greil pulled Nasir's elixir out from under his cloak and placed it on the table as Titania said this.

"You've only demonstrated that you have the best interest of the troop at heart, but you clearly have motives concerning our future" Greil said, rotating the elixir in his hand as he did. "Care to shed any light as to what our future holds, and why you're so invested in it?"

. . . Help me out on this one, Zen.

_There's only so much you can tell them here, Matt. I know that's hypocritical of me to say, but enlightening them about their plotted future, only to change it, creates paradoxical issues on my end that severely limit my ability to aid in your endeavors._

. . . You know, getting rid of you might not be such a bad thing.

_If you like the prospect of surviving to see your friends again, Matt, there's a time and place for such jokes._

Right, sorry.

. . .

Wait, what was that last part supposed to mean!?

_You have a question to answer, Matt._

. . . Damn you, Zen. So what am I supposed to tell them?

_More or less what I just explained to you. That you can't tell them about their plotted future specifically before-the-fact, or you risk paradoxical hazards that could be the end of all of you._

"Matt?" Titania tried to regain my attention. I realized that I had engaged Zen in private conversation for over half a minute, and in that time Titania and Greil had adopted concerned expressions.

"I'm sorry, there's only so much I can tell you. I can project the future, but until the events that I project pass, the amount of enlightenment I can give you is severely limited. Believe me, everything I've done and will do is in the best interest of the Greil Mercenaries."

Greil and Titania mutually paused, before confirming "We believe you, Matt."

So, Zen, what is fair game here?

_Your origin and any reference to Earth is harmless, as is your knowledge of any events of their past. As far as the plotted future is concerned, however, the best you can be is vague._

Can you summarize the nature of the paradoxical errors we might face if I'm anything more?

_The more they become aware of what the future is supposed to hold, the more the future is subject to change negatively. Telling them what the plotted future holds will compromise the entire plot leading up to it. I'll be able to explain that principle better once we come to a good example._

"Alright then," I answered. "So . . . where do you guys want me to start?"

"How much do you know about the Greil Mercenaries, Matt?" Greil asked.

"More than some of you know about each other, probably." I responded. "Who do you want me to use as an example?" I didn't know where to go specifically, so I let Greil elaborate on his question.

"The two of us" Titania responded. "What do you know about the Commander and me?"

I had to inhale deeply before beginning my answer. I knew that the past was harmless, but I was still dropping a metaphorical Hiroshima on these two.

"Greil . . . was once known as Gawain, one of the four Great Riders, alongside General Tauroneo, General Bryce, and a man I know significantly less about than either of the other two, General Lanvega." I turned to face the Commander, who's eyes had grown wide. "After Ashnard's coronation, you took your family and fled Daein to Crimea, with Lehran's medallion in your wife's hand, where both of you," I turned back to Titania briefly, to see a similarly shocked expression, "were members of the army. The two of you met on an extended exchange program in Gallia, a diplomatic endeavor on the parts of Kings Ramon and Caineghis, where you both met the king of beasts personally. Also while in Gallia," I turned back to the Commander, who visibly gulped and diverted his eyes, fully knowing what I was about to say. "You had an unfortunate incident, in which contact with the medallion drove you mad, prompting you to kill several people whom you had come to call friend, only stopping when your wife sacrificed her own life to withdraw you from your self-induced state of madness." I paused, allowing my words to sink in a little. Titania was visibly shaking at the memory, while Greil could no longer maintain eye contact with me. I didn't feel the need to continue any longer on what was so obviously a touchy subject.

"I'm sorry, perhaps I've said more than necessary." I raised my hands defensively and used my most apologetic voice. "I won't continue on that subject any more."

Titania looked up at me and shook her head. "No, Matt, you just did what we asked of you, there's no fault in that. It's just . . . it's not a subject that either of us have talked about in recent memory, and truth be told we're still not at a point where we can talk about it so openly."

"Which is why we're here now, Matt" Greil added. "Mercenary work . . . it was my way of atoning for my actions, tackling my demons, coping with the depression, and coming to a point where I could accept what I'd done. The charity work that we do here, the castaways that I've allowed to come here for meals, work and shelter, and the family environment that Titania and I've built . . . it's what's rebuilt my will to live. My kids' dependency on me kept my spirit alive at the time, but without this legacy that we've constructed, I don't know where I'd be now . . . " Greil trailed off. Titania tightly embraced the Commander, resting her head on his non-armored shoulder, facing away from me.

The scene in front of me persisted for at least a minute, while I tried to dig up something worthy to say.

"That's why I'm here, Commander" I answered, returning his and Titania's attention to myself. "Those events, the ones that have caused you so much agony . . . they could've been avoided. And that's what makes the guilt, blame and remorse tied up in them so hard to relinquish. Events like that one are in the future, although I'm afraid I can't elaborate on them specifically. I'm here to do what needs doing to make sure that those events are omitted from your legacy, but more importantly from Ike's legacy. That's why I showed up when I did, when he officially became a mercenary. There's huge things in the not-so-distant future, Commander, and I'm here to help Ike and this troop do what they need to do in the most efficient way, with the least amount of unnecessary strife."

"Your phrasing implies that the Commander will be omitted from that legacy soon, Matt" Titania said, obviously seeking confirmation that she was wrong.

. . . Damn it. I thought of how I'd be able to find a good answer for that. I shook my head at Greil, hoping that he'd take the response as deferring the right to answer Titania's question to him. It wasn't much of a plan, but surprisingly enough, Greil nodded and began to speak.

"No, Titania" Greil answered for me. "This will soon be Ike's organization anyhow. I planned to give him the reigns soon enough, before learning that he's apparently got an odyssey in front of him." The commander placed his hand on Titania's shoulder as reassurance. "I'm not dying anytime soon, Titania. Isn't that right, Matt?"

Greil winked at me and gave me a certain look, telling me that he knew full well his death was predetermined. I nodded at him, wordlessly making my first vow to change the course of Tellius' history.

_You've made the right choice, Matt. I'm proud of you._

Looking to leave the room before I was put into any more condemning situations, I asked to be dismissed for the night. The Commander and Titania nodded, not having any words for me. Satisfied with what I had told them, I excused myself from the room, saying that I needed to rest. Dinner had passed before our meeting, so I had no further business to attend to.

I opened the door to the room, outside which I was half-expecting to find mercenaries with their ears pressed to the boards but was pleasantly surprised to fine I was wrong. I walked the short distance down to my room, grateful to find that I wasn't interrupted along the way. Once inside my room, however, I found Ike, sitting in a desk that I had up until that point not acknowledged. I assumed that he wanted something from me, but was unsure of what.

"Ike?" I asked, getting the blue-haired mercenary's attention. He hadn't noticed my entry to the room, having appeared lost in his own mind, and snapped a bit when I said his name. "What's up man? You need something?"

"Sorry, Matt, zoned out" he unnecessarily explained, before continuing. "About the mission, earlier today" he started, hesitating on his next word choice. "Titania told me it was critically important that I talk to the one pegasus knight . . ." he trailed off. He sat there for about 5 seconds, doing a strange combination of eyebrow quirks, blinking, tongue-sticking, and eye-rolling, obviously struggling to remember her name, before I interjected "Marcia".

"Right, Marcia" he answered thankfully. "Look, I know I wasn't a part of the conversation coming back from the port, but I could tell that you got Shinon and Gatrie's point of view on what she meant by 'repaying her debt'."

"Honestly man, I don't know what she meant by that, I wasn't there." I responded, still wondering where Ike was leading me with this conversation.

"I just wanted to be clear that I did consider that possibility. I just don't think taking advantage of a situation like that, with . . . those ends in mind, is ethical. Shinon and Gatrie . . . I have a lot of respect for them, I really do, but the reason that-"

"You don't associate very well with them is because you're their antithesis" I finished for him. "You have an ethic code that you're father, the Commander, instilled in you, while the two of them are far more . . . lenient, on their behavior. You appreciate the peanuts-to-charity work that this troop carries out, while those two are more ambitious in their ideas and pursuits. You're hot-blooded and easily overcome with emotion on the battlefield, while those two are capable of fighting as though ice runs through their veins. You're reason to fight is to bring honor to your father's legacy, while-"

_Don't get carried away, Doctor Phil._

Shut up, Zen.

"Theirs is to broaden their recognition and improve their personal reputation" Ike said, finishing my thought with the exact wording that I probably would've used. "You know, Matt, for how short a time you've spent here, it seems like you've got our group pretty well figured out. Like Soren when he first showed up."

"How soon will I be getting to know this Soren?" I asked, feigning curiosity and ignorance.

"I don't know" Ike said, hesitating, before saying "but knowing how Soren works, probably sooner than any of us think. I think the two of you would make good friends, once he gets over his initial skepticism that he has towards everyone he meets."

"I'd like to think so too" I answered, now more tired than ever.

"Alright man, good talk" Ike said. "I'll let you get our rest now." And with that, Ike got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. As I heard his footsteps going down the hall, I remembered my phone, and Nate. I pulled the device out of right pocket, turned it on, and was welcomed by the sight of a new message.

"What."

_Dial down the cryptic, Matt. He's concerned about you._

I quickly responded with a message, reading "Don't worry about it. I'll explain it to you soon. How's Earth right now?" I don't want to deal with this now, Zen. Why don't you explain it to him?

_Soren isn't coming back until the day after tomorrow, Matt. You have nothing to wake up for, so you can take the time now._

Yes, I will. I will take the time now to go to god damn sleep. Have a good night, Zen.

_Don't tell me what to do._

After laughing more than I should've at the reference that I wasn't sure if Zen realized he made-

_I know what Drake & Josh was, Matt._

. . . I hit the bed, falling asleep almost instantly once again.

* * *

AN: Okay, so on a scale from 1 to 'late', this was a 'Spongebob being taken off air'. You remember how I wrote that I apologized for this chapter being late in the first AN? Yeah. I wrote that AN two weeks ago. Yeah, I've taken my AP European History exam and Algebra II SOL in the past week, both of which I've extensively studied for, but I lied when I said I extensively studied for them. So yeah, that's not even an excuse.

Anyway, one thing I noticed about this story is that if you're reading off of a Nintendo DSi® browser (although I might be the only one that's done that), then you can't see the italicized words. I reviewed every chapter one night with mine because I was bored when I realized this. So, on the extremely off-chance that that's you (I used to read FF on mine every night before I actually started writing, so I might just be doing this for my own benefit), well, I'm sorry. I could put it in quotes like I did initially, but that was terribly confusing for me, both writing and re-reading it.

Anyway, more importantly, about Angel of Darkness and Light's review, and how I said I was going to address that here. I said I would be taking OC suggestions for this story, and I'm still planning on taking those. As for the guidelines, it can be anyone or anything you want it to be, as long as you're within the lines of reason. Beorc? Laguz? Stranded Alien? Earthling (there's a reason I reference Matt's Earth friends so much, after all)? Character from another game? Go for it, I really don't care. Just make sure you use some common sense; I can't have a modern army squad being bombed and sent as a unit to Tellius to blow everything up in chaotic hysteria. And I'm not going to make a full-on crossover at any point, so if you're thinking you need to send a supporting cast with your character to my Tellius, keep it absolutely minimal. Like, Ash Ketchum with a party of friends, 6 pokémon to each of them? That's a no-go. Ash, Brock, Pikachu, Charizard, Croagunk and Onix? A lot more likely.

Keep in mind if you do this, however, there's no guarantee you're character is living to the end of the story: far from it. Fire Emblem has more than enough characters in and of itself to use as plot devices, and the OCs, though I'll still treat them as characters in the game, are primarily going to be used as flair to make the story unique. If I feel a need to use an ally death as a plot device at any point? OCs are on the short list. Just a disclaimer there, because reading butthurt reviews isn't my idea of a good time.

Anyway: cheers, sorry for the delay, hope that the quality of the writing did something to make up for it. Thank you all for reading, I hope each of you review, I want you to and I'll appreciate it, yeah.

Also, I just spent about 10 minutes battling alongside my OCD to get a chapter with exactly 9,600 pages. So, I copy what Pages says is 9,600, sub out the hyphens for line breaks, add three unnecessary words, and save the document. You know how many words it says I have? 9,592. Like, what the hell Pages? So I copy the document to a new file in pages, with changes added, and it says I have 9,600 again. I re-edit the document on Pages and save it here again, and it says I have 9,597. When I went back to add this note, after making three word additions, I re-saved the document again. It said I had 9,938. I have no idea how many it's going to say I have now; I'll tell you in the next chapter. The struggle is real, y'all. Peace.


	5. Chapter 3: Suiting Up

AN: I guess this is becoming a usual cycle for me: post a chapter on a given weekend, spend the week reading reviews about my grammatical errors and typos, and make more changes than were warranted in a chapter update (overhaul?) the following weekend. Which tells me three things: that I shouldn't upload chapters as soon as I'm done with the second AN, that I shouldn't be so late with my chapters that I feel a need to upload them that early after they're finished, and that I need to get an editor. Between my parents, who would call armageddon and foster care over the fact that I merely labelled the story as 'M' rated, and my brother, who isn't particularly diligent in his english work anyway and generally apathetic to FanFiction, I might need to look elsewhere for someone to do that. Which isn't to say I want a volunteer from one of you guys (although it would be appreciated, I guess), it just means it'll take longer than I'd like.

Anyway, on to last chapter's reviews!

Mzr90: Considering that I try to base Matt's character off of myself as much as possible, I'll take that compliment personally. Given, if that basis holds, Matt's going to start doing a royally horrendous job of making decisions once the story goes far enough out of canon, but it's still nice to hear positive reviews. As for the OC guideline, there really isn't much more than what I posted in the second AN of last chapter. If it's really a bad idea, then I'll tell you, but it's more likely than not that whatever the first suggestion is gets in. Like I said before, futuristic-ish things that'll make every battle terribly one-sided are obviously not a go, nor is anything that'll completely overtake the FE theme of the story, but everything else is fair game. If there's an idea in your head, then go for it. I'd like to know.

Hannahbananaonthesavanna: I probably sound like a broken record by now, but I seriously appreciate how helpful your reviews have been. I'd probably have eventually noticed most of the grammatical errors and typos that you point out, but it would've taken a lot longer and been more embarrassing on my part. Those aside, I don't know whether your compliments are sincere or catering to exactly what I hope to hear; you seem to enjoy the parts of the story that I take the most pride in, and anticipate the parts of the upcoming chapters that I most want to play up. I sincerely enjoy reading your reviews, please continue to post them :).

Guest: Thank you for taking the time to review. It's nice to hear from people who appreciate that I don't throw Shinon to the wolves as soon as my character meets him. You're not the first to tell me that, and hopefully you won't be the last. Thank you for reviewing, and I hope to see you review some more.

Now that those are out of the way, there's just a few more moot points before I kick chapter 3 off. For one, it's a filler chapter; no, Soren won't be returning until chapter 4 :(. I established that in the last chapter, but I didn't want to crush anyone's hopes if they had happened to skip over that bit. I want to get to Soren as much as the rest of you, but with Soren comes the rush of plot twists that occur in the _Roadside Battle _and _Flight! _chapters. I wanted to give Matt an extra chapter to build some rapport with the other mercenaries, go through the daily motions of an off-day at the fort (I won't be making up a battle to coincide if the game doesn't), and possibly learn to correctly wield a weapon before he'll be forced to. Maybe I'm tilting the odds in his favor a little bit, but he IS based off of me after all. Besides: my story, my rules.

Oh yeah, and if you were still wondering about the OC submissions, that's in Mzr90's review response. Seriously. Those are all of the guidelines I have. Wing it.

And since I said I'd mention it last chapter, here it is: 10,096 words. After my usual update, it went up to 10,605. Only about two sentences of that are really at all plot-changing, and hardly at all at that. If you haven't/don't want to re-read the later part of Chapter 3, this is what happened: Greil came to the conclusion that his death was preordained, but he has said nothing about it and isn't in any kind of situation to act on it later anyway. His knowing that now probably won't amount to anything special later. But yeah, just so you guys know.

Anyway, time for Chapter 3. Sorry to keep you guys waiting.

* * *

Chapter 3: Suiting Up

I woke up the next morning thinking about-

_Nate. Damn it Matt, get back to the guy._

. . . Nate. I picked up and unlocked my phone, turned off my alarm of _Bridge Burning _by the Foo Fighters, and started composing a response text to last night's 'what'. In hindsight, I guess I couldn't really blame him for being completely confused.

'Yeah, it's trippy. Long story short, I'm in the Fire Emblem world, as a part of the Greil Mercenaries, a day or two before the Mad King's War breaks out. It's pretty intense stuff.'

I sent that message to him, and subsequently entertained myself with mental images of his immediate reaction. Suddenly, however, I noticed something that I thought was weird: my phone's date was set at July 4th. I had disappeared from Earth in mid-December . . .

Zen?

_Oh, right, that._ _I would've mentioned that sooner had I thought it would mean anything to you, but seeing as you weren't going to be seeing your Earth friends in the near future-_

Get to the point.

_What have I told you about patience, Matt?_

_. . . _

_Fine. Time leaps are a natural part of inter-world transportation. For every unit of space consumed on a journey, a certain amount of time is consumed accordingly. Because of the distance between this world and the one in which Earth exists, it took you approximately half a year to arrive here._

. . . Really?

_Lol, no. There isn't a distance issue at all, I just held you in limbo until your world's date aligned with the date at the start of Path of Radiance, to reduce your confusion. Don't ask why, but the citizens of Fire Emblem's world also use the Gregorian calendar. I wanted you to arrive here on July 4th, so I held you in limbo until then._

And Independence Day, 2013 just happens to coincide with July 4th, 700-something here?

_Who said anything about 2013?_

. . . You're kidding me, right?

_Yes. Yes I am._

As I started to concoct a witty response that exceeded the natural spontaneous "Fuck you!", I felt my phone vibrating in my hand. Nate had replied to my message: 'Honestly, that seems legit. What with your body not having been found for half a year, people have thrown around some bat-shit crazy theories. By comparison, being transported into a video game seems perfectly logical.'

As I stared at my phone, appalled at Nate's willingness to believe my story, a detail of Zen's speech caught my mind.

Zen, if you didn't think the date on Earth would mean anything to me, why would you bother holding me until the dates here and there aligned?

. . .

Odd, normally he announces when he's leaving. Which never really stops me from continuing to talk to him, but-

"MATT!"

At the sound of Shinon's yell, I rushed to turn off and pocket my phone before starting toward the mess hall, where I knew my arrival was going to be overdue. Upon entering, however, I was met with an excited Shinon, rather than the expected annoyed one. That, combined with the also-eager face worn by Gatrie and the dismayed one donned by Titania, and I didn't have any real idea of what was going on.

"You need something?" I asked, sitting down at the end of the table in front of a fresh bowl of beef stew.

An elongated sigh from Titania tipped me off that Shinon might've been about to present me with a bad idea.

"Hey rook, so Gatrie and I got to thinking-" he started, giving me a clear indication that this was indeed a bad idea. At least in Titania's perspective, seeing as it was Shinon and Gatrie collaborating in thought. "Here you are, in a mercenary group, without any weapon or armor to call your own, or even appropriate clothing." I looked up and down at myself, once again becoming self-conscious of my off-color denim and Vans. They made a valid point: I clearly was not fit to be on a battlefield. "So Gatrie and I, like the good and helpful influences we are, thought we might take you into town to fit you up."

Titania visibly cringed at the words "good and helpful", but otherwise said nothing. After a brief pause, Oscar (whom I hadn't previously noticed), added "Oh, and I'll be going with you too. Wouldn't want Shinon to intoxicate you and leave you to wake up in the street tomorrow".

I fully expected Shinon to groan or roll his eyes at that comment, but surprisingly enough, he chuckled. Turning my attention back to Titania, I asked "Do I have your leave, deputy Commander?"

"Matt, you probably know how I feel about this, but you can do whatever you want today" was her blunt, unsuspected response. Shinon, Gatrie and Oscar smiled before handing their plates to Mist and starting for the front door. Not wanting to buy the red-haired paladin enough time to change her mind, I devoured my stew (wasn't hard) and quickly followed them, leaving her to continue eating her food in solitude and silence.

"Before you go" she suddenly said, speaking up as I was nearly out of the fort, "do some sparring in the courtyard. If the others are willing to spring on weapons for you, you at least ought to know what you're in shop for."

I nodded and smiled in response before continuing to leave. As I walked out of the fort in pursuit of the others, fully planning to ignore Titania's advice until later that day, I was met by Ike and Boyd. The two imparted brief, quiet greetings to me, but clearly had getting to the mess hall as quickly as possible as their top priority. I quickened my pace, hoping to catch up to the small group I was traveling with, who were now at the bottom of the cliff that I was just starting to descend. As I met the group under the entrance, however, I heard a bellow from the fort's courtyard, which caused all four of us to stop in our tracks and turn around.

"HEY MATT!"

Ike appeared at the top of the cliff, much to our group's confusion. Then, without warning, the blue-head tossed a trainer in my direction, which spun vertically through the air before I caught it by the handle, right arm outstretched.

"What are you doing, Ike!?" Shinon yelled, clearly annoyed by the sudden, strange interruption.

"Three!" Ike started, which he followed with a brief pause.

"Two!" he barked a moment later. I tensed up slightly, gripping the trainer tighter, having absolutely no idea what he was getting at. No one else in our group made any further reaction.

"One!" he yelled, apparently anticipating something significant. Shinon made a move to get in front of me. Oscar and Gatrie, in turn, made a move to get in front of him.

"I WANT MAH BREAKFAST!" Boyd screamed, coming out of nowhere from behind Ike and leaping down the cliff towards us, briefly eclipsing the sun with practice axe in hand. Shinon smirked and backed away, pulling Oscar and Gatrie with him, leaving me alone in Boyd's path. Suddenly realizing that I actually had a weapon of my own in hand, I brought the trainer up in front of me and entered a stance as Boyd reached the bottom of the hill and began a leaping vertical strike.

I couldn't describe the sound that followed as Boyd's practice axe briefly embedded itself in the ground where I had just been standing just before making an instinctive 5-foot leap backward. Boyd, quick as he was to follow up with more attacks, was relatively predictable in his swings, and left a large enough window of time between each one to effectively dodge them. Allowing the analytical side of my brain to temper the adrenaline enough to let me think clearly, I took a synopsis of my current situation and how to apply my prior knowledge to it. The trainer, although lighter than I would've expected, was still too heavy for me to apply my experience with fencing to the duel, but I would still be able to apply some of my more basic experience in 1v1 sparring from my journey to becoming a Karate black-belt. As for Boyd, while he was cumbersome and predictable, he was also far stronger than I was, and it would ill behoove me to get into close combat with him extensively, where I'd force myself to plant my body and parry his strikes with my relatively lacking strength and weight. Fortunately for me, it was clear from my continued dodging success that I possessed better speed, agility and reflexes than Boyd, or at least more than he chose to apply, and I figured those skills would allow me to beat Boyd were I to maintain a healthy distance and take my offense opportunistically.

Admittedly, it would've been a lot easier without the denim pants that I was hoping to replace later that day. The hair flopping in my face wasn't much help either.

Boyd, frustrated that I had dodged all 6 of the strikes he had attempted in the battle's first 30-second span, came at me with a renewed vigor. Increasing his attack speed to two strikes every 5 seconds, I threw out the analytical side of my brain to allow the adrenaline to retake control of my reaction speed. As Boyd's attack speed continued to hasten, I was forced to put both of my hands on the blade in order to parry 3 strikes that the fighter managed to launch within the same 2-second span before a window long enough for me to take another giant leap back appeared.

As Boyd once again approached me, this time at a manic pace and with a diagonal downward-right strike, I jumped into the window of opportunity he presented me with: I brought both hands up in a close-proximity parry before quickly bringing the trainer down on the left side of the brute's neck.

Quickly returning to a one-handed stance, I proceeded to unleash a flurry of stroke's to the axe-wielder's midsection, each strike being met with a satisfying sound of muscular resistance, almost as though I were striking a punching bag. After the first two, Boyd stopped trying to move his axe up in defense; after the next ten or so the fighter was forced to take a knee.

The mental image of the 'Finishing Bonus' sequence from the game _Infinity Blade_ appeared in the forefront of my mind as a smug grin crossed my face. As Shinon, Gatrie, Oscar and Ike started cheering, alongside a few new audience members that I hadn't noticed before, I felt a strange impulse of energy across my body. I closed my eyes to take the feeling in as it crossed my every limb before it faded, leaving me feeling strangely empowered.

"What was that?" I mused out loud, in the midst of the formation of a huddle around me.

"Looks like someone just had their first level-up" Gatrie said, a broad smile forming across his face as his hand came down to pat me on the back.

"Feel any stronger, rook?" Shinon inquired, also with his hand on my back. Strange how uncharacteristic of himself he seemed in person.

. . . Wait, level-up?

_Yes, Matt. Level-ups are a common phenomenon in the Fire Emblem world. Surely you already knew that?_

Well, yeah, but I thought that was just a mere game mechanic?

_Matt, this world and your game are one and the same._

At that revelation, I started to feel extremely smug. Maybe becoming a decent contributor to Ike's cause wouldn't be so hard after all . . .

_Heh. I rhymed._

Now that we're talking about that, Zen, any chance you could tell me what level I am now? Stats? Class and weapon levels?

_If I tell you, will you continue your conversation with your friends?_

"You were impressive, Matt" Oscar said, bringing me back to the situation at hand. Shinon and Gatrie were still right next to me, in the huddle with Oscar. Titania, who'd been among the later arrivals in the audience, simply stood cross-armed a fair distance away, smiling at me. Mist and Rolf, the other two late arrivals, had joined Ike in tormenting Boyd about his embarrassing loss to 'some noob'.

"So Boyd, what did sparring with me have to do with your breakfast?" I asked, trying to bail him out of his torture like a good friend while also sincerely wondering what my place was in his meal.

"Oh, that?" Boyd replied sheepishly, reaching up to scratch the back of his head with his right hand. "Deputy Commander said Ike and I weren't allowed to eat until I sparred with you."

"No, Boyd" Titania disdainfully responded. "The deal was you had to beat him. You had to WIN."

"I couldn't do that because I was going easy on him!" Boyd said defensively, backing away with his hands in front of him.

"But why would you be doing that if you were fighting for 'yah breakfast?'" I asked teasingly, drawing stifled laughs from Mist and Rolf.

"Shut your trap rook!" The fighter then proceeded to sit under one of the roadside trees, away from the rest of the group, where he proceeded to mumble things to himself.

"I guess we know what weapon to invest in with you, don't we?" Gatrie said, pulling me back to my group while nodding at the trainer still in my hand. Looking down at the practice sword, I adjusted my grip of it a couple times, rotating the handle, rolling my wrist, and otherwise coming to grips (heh, puns) with the reality that not only was I holding a sword in my hand (albeit a practice one), but that I had just won in single-combat with it (albeit opportunistically and as a result of a lot of luck otherwise). It was easy to make the adjustment from my karate experience to sword-fighting; making the weapon into an extension of myself almost seemed simple.

_Matt, please. Your weapon level is 'E'._

And now that we're back to that conversation, how about-

_Tactician. Level 2. HP 18; STR 4; MAG 5; SKL 5; SPD 6; LCK 7; DEF 5; RES 4._

Interesting . . . pedestrian, as expected, but still interesting.

_I'm not finished. Your weight is 8. Your CN is 8. You have a volatile biorhythm, your affinity is Wind, and your only skill is 'Veteran'. Seeing as you've never played game with the Tactician class, and you're the only such unit in this timeline currently, I doubt you know what that is._

. . . No, I don't. And I don't see how I'm a 'veteran' at all. So what's it do?

_If you're paired up with another unit, your EXP increases by 150%._

Oooooh . . . I like that.

_By the way, you're 'E' weapon level also extends to each type of elemental magic._

. . . That sounds nice. . . . That sounds very, very nice. . .

_Indeed. Now, seeing as you have all of the information you sought and a day of debauchery ahead of you, I'll be taking my leave._

As Zen left my head, I returned my attention to the three men I was with. All of whom were staring at me with confused, but still definitively positive expressions.

". . . What?"

"You know, rook, someday you're going to have to explain to us where in that big head of yours you're always retreating to" Gatrie said, smirking enough that I knew I wasn't any worse off in his book for it. Shinon smiled as well, but chose not to add any words. I suddenly noticed that Oscar had apparently taken off, along with everyone besides the three of us.

"Come on guys, we're wasting daylight" Shinon interjected, cutting off that conversation with a tone of seriousness. "We only have today to blow in Arbor, and the place isn't exactly a stone's throw away." The sniper turned over his shoulder back in the direction of the fort, before shouting "Hey Oscar!"

"Right here!" a voice from the courtyard up the hill responded, before a two-horse carriage suddenly appeared at the top and began to roll down. Oscar, two horses in tow, followed, reaching the bottom of the hill just as Gatrie reached the hill's base to stop it.

"No, rook" Shinon said, smugness evident in his voice. "We're not going to walk the whole damn way to Arbor. It's nearly twice the distance there than to Toha." As Oscar started hitching the two horses, one of which I recognized as his personal steed, to the carriage, Shinon and Gatrie both climbed in the back. I climbed up after them, closing the back behind me, as Oscar climbed into the front seat. Not having any wooden seat to occupy, I made myself at home on the surprisingly comfortable bed of hay that lined the bottom of the carriage.

"Since when did you guys have this thing?" I asked, my mind running through every game scenario from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn where a personal carriage would've been a boon to the group.

"Not that long ago, actually" Gatrie responded. "The Commander got this as a thank-you gift from the citizens of some town or other that we freed from bandits. They said it would help him spread his positive influence over a greater expanse of Crimea's countryside. Knowing the Commander, we all thought that he'd take the gift, sell it in another town and give the money to some group even poorer than ourselves, but the old man kept it."

I suddenly remembered being told that Mother Teresa had once received a Lamborghini as a gift from the Pope, with the same intentions in mind, and had done just that with the proceeds she got from selling it. I never actually looked further to see if there was any truth to that, but it certainly seemed like something that would've happened.

"Yeah, imagine that" Shinon said, cryptically trailing off and looking into the distance.

Gatrie, noticing the quizzical look on my face, elaborated on Shinon's behalf. "Matt, don't get us wrong. We have nothing but respect for the commander. We just don't relate to his lack of ambition, you know?"

Shinon returned his gaze to me and rejoined the conversation. "That's just our drive, Matt. Gatrie and I, we don't throw ourselves into mortal combat every day for fun, and certainly not for the paltry payment our band gets. We have aspirations. We want to be better, to be recognized for our effort and talent, and we go through this grind because we hope that some day, someone with power becomes interested in our skills and offers us the opportunity to use them on a platform that's worthy of them." I nodded along, as the misunderstood-capitalist Shinon that I had always imagined materialized in front of me. "You understand that, right?"

"Absolutely." I paused long enough to watch them smile in relief, before continuing in a way that I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to, but felt inclined to anyway. "Where I come from, that's the premise on which our society operates. The belief that effort and talent should be the only factors in determining how successful someone is in life. Not birthright. Not a wealthy background. Just work."

Shinon, Gatrie, and even Oscar had put on curious faces. Which might've been partly due to that being the first time I've ever opened up, even slightly, about my background. Shinon just nodded a little, visibly mulling thoughts around in his head. "Well . . . " he started, trying to choose his words carefully as he went along, "it sounds like an interesting place . . . where you come from. Maybe someday I'll check it out."

Shinon's best attempt at sensitivity was already out, and the sniper clearly had nothing else he wanted to say. Gatrie and Oscar appeared to have retreated into themselves to think. Not wanting to explore the possibility of Shinon coming to Earth at that moment, I decided to clam up and focus on other things, my status and future as a Fire Emblem character particularly. Those thoughts were enough to occupy me for most of the several-hour ride to Arbor.

* * *

"Hey Matt, wake up."

I opened my eyes to find myself laying on the floor of the carriage, my head resting a foot or two from the open back. Shaking the stray hay from my hair, I pulled myself out of the carriage and joined Oscar on the ground, where the carriage was parked across a moat from a majestic castle-town.

"So this is Arbor, huh?" I asked, not remembering the place from any reference in the games.

"Yeah, here we are rook" Gatrie responded from in front of the carriage, where both he and Shinon were standing.

The aforementioned sniper then turned around to face the entire group. "Okay guys, we're going to hit the armory, some leathermen shops, the cordwainer, a couple of grub joints, whatever stalls seem good enough, and the pub. The carriage isn't going anywhere until dark, at which point you all better have your asses back here or I'm going home by myself."

I nodded in affirmation. Oscar just smirked.

"So . . . " Shinon said sheepishly, pulling a small bag of coins out of a pocket I didn't know he had. "Gatrie and I are getting a drink. Oscar, this is for Matt". Shinon chucked the bag at Oscar, turned around and moved quickly to the city gate. "Be good!" Gatrie shouted over his shoulder as he followed Shinon through the gate.

Oscar, apparently not bothered whatsoever by Shinon ditching us, turned to me with a smile. "Don't worry about Shinon; we can't keep a leash on him and we don't particularly want to. If you keep the guy in a cage too much off the battlefield than you lose his benefit on it." I smiled back at him, remembering something that Coach Popovich once said about Manu Ginobili. "Come, we have to bring our carriage and horses to the stable if we want to count on them being here when we're done. Wouldn't want any escaping thieves or prison breakers running away with them". Oscar retook the front seat of the carriage, with me reentering the back right behind him, and I proceeded to take a closer look at Arbor as the knight led us into the town to the stable.

On the outside, Arbor's walls were made out of jaded, dark-grey stone bricks, which would've struck me as the building blocks of an intimidating fort rather than a quaint town. The bridge that stretched over the small moat, which mostly consisted of mud, was made of the same material, probably 20 feet wide with short 4-block high walls on either side to prevent unfortunate accidents from having worse consequences. The gate itself had only a slightly narrower arch, which extended upward to about the same height as an average single-story room. On the inside, a double-lane road stretched from the entrance about 50 yards before being interrupted by a large fountain, around which was a plethora of stalls with wares indistinguishable from this distance. A ways past the fountain was a tall keep, who's towers from my position seemed to touch the clear noon sky. Evenly spaced alongside the road leading up to this keep were identical, 2-story tudor-style dwellings, which bore a stark contrast from both the walls of the town and every other dwelling I had seen up to that point. And on the near-left corner of the aforementioned plaza stood a clearly-labeled "Northern Stable", into which Oscar was just now pulling in.

"Two horses and carriage for one night?" An old, seemingly curmudgeonly voice asked from a dark corner of the stable. "That'll be the standard one-hundred coins." Oscar proceeded to wordlessly pull the amount from out of a bag in the front seat and hand it to the grey-bearded dwarf of a man, who took the money and retreated to his corner while muttering something unintelligible. Oscar and I quietly exited the stable, temporarily leaving the signature smell of barn animals and hay behind, and re-joined the bustling populace of Arbor in the black-stone plaza. Before I had the chance to run off into the plaza, Oscar gripped my wrist and silently took my attention, before opening his mouth to begin what I figured would be a budget summary of sorts.

"Okay Matt, we have a 1200-coin budget to use on getting you ready for life as a Crimean mercenary. To put that in perspective, that's about as much as it would cost to buy three swords with quality comparable to that of Ike's." I nodded, beckoning him to continue. "Fortunately for you, we agreed that you'd be able to use the sword Ike lent you for as long as it'll last, leaving us with more than enough change to spare getting you properly outfitted at all of the places that Shinon mentioned before bolting for the drinks."

I reached down to my hip, suddenly realizing that the spoken-of iron sword was still attached at my hip, where I had left it during yesterday's battle.

"Looks like you've already developed the habit of carrying your weapon with you at all times. That's good. People will think you're sketchy, but that comes with the trade" Oscar said with a sly grin. "Anyway, also like Shinon said, we don't have all day to burn. Let's get going."

The few hours that followed that passed by in a single, wonderful haze. The stalls of Arbor's square yielded a couple of useful leather pieces, including a small brassard and a couple of vambraces, as well as an eccentric meat salesman who tried to sell me on a wyvern-jerky pitch. The salesman, who offered free sample strips, had vibrant orange hair which was put into cornrows and tied back with a wide band, as well as a both-impressive-and-strange full goatee trimmed in such a way that it appeared the man's chin was aflame. Oscar, being the classy man that he was, passed on the samples, but I, of course, went for it. The jerky was far thicker than the average beef strip, with an orange tint, and had a certain cajun spice taste to it, reminiscent of alligator jerky. Which, yes, I had once tried. Ultimately, like the alligator jerky, I wasn't able to actually consume the strip, but thanked the salesman for his kindness and proceeded to slowly chew the jerky as I continued about the day's business.

Following that, Oscar and I visited the armory, leatherworker's guild, cordwainer and tailor. Leaving about 400 coins to remain in Oscar's pouch, we picked up some comfortable, high-top fitted leather boots, a leather bodice with iron plates hewn into the chest and attached brassards with a buckle in the front that reminded me of my shoulder pads from football season, a couple of fingerless black linen gloves, leather thigh pads with appealing patterns carves into the fronts, a pair of plain, white cotton trousers, a new leather belt, a roll of white cloth that apparently was supposed to serve a similar purpose to athletic tape, a long-sleeve grey shirt that closely resembled Ike's blue one and a kelly-green bandana. The reasoning behind the latter two were the awkward stares that my wardrobe had gotten earlier that day, and Oscar reasoning that, if I was comfortable in my current clothes, it would be cheaper to find some thin articles to put over them than to replace them. That being said, the grey shirt had a low enough neckline that the black t-shirt was still clearly visible. Not that I was complaining though. Truth be told, I thought it looked pretty badass.

All together, the outfit, in my opinion, looked even more badass. The green bandana, folded into a band and tied around my head, pushed most of my slightly-wavy brown hair out of my face, without messing with the side and back strands that fell to my shoulders and framed my face, in a way quite reminiscent of Ike's. The plated shoulder pads fit snugly over the grey shirt, and the single buckled brassard fitted in nicely under the left side with the left shirt-sleeve being folded up and tucked into it for comfort. The shirt's naturally-popped collar came out of the pads' neck hole nicely, and the neckline molded perfectly with the gap in the in the armor down to the buckle at the bottom, leaving a downward-pointing isosceles triangle of my black t-shirt exposed.

Further down, the shirt hung down well below my waist, where it was narrowed by the leather belt. The grey jeans were gone: I managed to sell them to the absurdly-intrigued tailor for a whole 5000 coins (which made sense considering that denim was an alien material in the FE world, but I was still surprised she was willing to invest so much) so that she could attempt to replicate it. As for my phone, it was a simple matter to transfer it to my left sleeve while keeping it concealed. Attached to the belt was the sword I had taken from Ike, while the navy-blue cotton belt from my jeans was now being used to support my new pants underneath. The pants were overlapped by my thigh pads and tucked into my new boots about half a foot below my knees. As for the vans, the tailor had no idea who would make such an impractical and strange-colored shoe, so I was left to hold on to them as a keepsake, while using the string from the left one to tie my right shirt sleeve up just above my bicep, once again leaving a small degree of exposure for my black t-shirt underneath. After I stared at my reflection for a solid ten minutes in the tailor's shop, as both she and I admired my sexy self, Oscar took everything save for the bandana, shirt, belt, pants, gloves and boots. We returned them to the carriage - which apparently had a lockable compartment underneath the front seat - before heading to the tavern to hook up with the other two.

At some point on the way to the bar to eat, we passed by Gatrie and Shinon on a street corner. Gatrie, of course, was leaning against a lamp pole, trying to hook up with some blond-haired woman. The typical part of that came with his surprising success. Of course, he was just pitching cornballs, but apparently that was sufficient for random street chicks. Shinon, on the other hand clearly too sober and composed to have yet had a drink, was inconspicuously leaning against a nearby wall, following his knight friend's progress while staying far away enough as to not appear to be with him. As we passed, I beckoned Shinon to come with us to the bar, now only two buildings away, to which Shinon enthusiastically-but-subtly agreed. Gatrie, meanwhile, disappeared around the corner from whence we came, the random girl in tow.

"Matt, I like your new style!" Shinon complimented as he closed the door to "The Knight's Gauntlet" behind the three of us. "More practicality, less alienation, and the same good color scheme. I give you a 10/10 for that."

Not having known that Shinon had any eye for style points, I smiled and nodded. Shinon sighed and made a half-smirk in response.

"Rook, you need to open up a little bit. Talk some more, you know?" he said. "Or at least talk at all. Seriously, there's men of few words, and then there's you. Even the strong-but-silent types open their mouths in times like this."

"I'd like to think I talk as much as I need to" was my delayed response. My instinctive response would've been to just smile and shake my head, but then I would've been proving his point.

Shinon chuckled. "I know, rook. That's why I've actually grown to respect you." He gave me another back-pat, now clearly trying to butter me up for something. "But you're hitting the town now; you don't talk as much as you need to, you're supposed to talk as much as you WANT to!" I smirked, watching the scene that Shinon's enthusiasm was starting to create as he paused. "Okay, maybe not if you want to talk as much as Gatrie, because we do want you to return home tonight." Even Oscar, who'd become a quiet third-wheel in our group, joined the small audience in light laughter. Clearly now, I was wrong to have thought Shinon hadn't yet been here. The sniper then turned to the green-haired knight. "You're with me, right Oscar?"

"Shinon, just cut to the chase" Oscar dismissively responded, before turning to my now-confused self. "He wants to buy you a drink, Matt."

. . . Did he just say that with a straight face?

I stood there for a couple of seconds, awkwardly mulling whether or not Oscar and Shinon were being serious. I mean, sure, Shinon would totally do that, especially if he was already slightly drunk, which I was guessing he nearly always was if he could be. But Oscar? The situation persisted for a couple of seconds before, in completely random fashion, a bearded audience member was beaned in the side of the head with an apple.

"I'll have a Redd's apple ale" I muttered to myself as everyone turned to the man, who was now lying on the wooden floor, slowly rubbing his temple.

"You'll have a what now, rook?" Shinon asked, turning his attention back to me, before a male adolescent voice from the pub's door retook everyone's attention.

"What are you trying to pull, boozer?" A red-haired thief-looking guy emerged through the door. "You said the bag was full of candy!" A squinty-eyed, white-topped mage came into the bar behind him.

"NOW I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" the mage yelled.

"NO! NO, YOU ARE NOT!" The thief turned back to the mage, forcefully guiding him out of the door as a cloud of dark magic materialized over the grounded man's head. "We're not doing this today, Crows." The thief pushed the mage down onto the road; several small packages fell out of his cloak and hit the ground as the mage did. "Damn it Crows, you made me spill my sweets!"

"Hey! I'm just trying to help a friend out, Gaius!" The mage said apologetically, before suddenly becoming very interested in his elbows, which he had just landed on. "Oh hey, I'm bleeding! I love blood!" The mage sat idly in the road, apparently mesmerized by his bleeding elbows as the thief, who's name was apparently Gaius, frantically tried to return his spilled candies to his cloak. Both had apparently forgotten that they had an audience, one of whom they had just beaned with a piece of fruit. Speaking of whom, he was now standing in the door, flanked by 5 or 6 other drunk men, casting a long shadow over the two young men.

Gaius, as he reached down to pick up the last of his candies, finally noticed the men standing above him, who'd grown almost as annoyed with Gaius' and "Crows"' ignorance of them as they had been with the apple. Finally acknowledging the bearded man, Gaius, who was either too dense or apathetic for the tension to get to him, got out "Okay boozer, have it your way . . . we'll settle your debt later" before promptly pulling his friend to his feet and bolting down the street, practically dragging "Crows" behind him. Oscar, Shinon and I walked outside to watch as three of the men, 'Boozer' included, bolted down the street after them. "Crows", as he was being dragged, calmly shouted "To wing, my friends!" to no one in particular, which prompted countless ravens, a couple pidgeons, a horse, some alley rats, three stray dogs and the cat from the witch's shop to follow him down the street. By the time the duo managed to turn the street corner, they had the three bar men, the witch, ten armed guards, a stable attendant, a random woman, a couple of homeless guys and their plethora of animal friends in hot pursuit. After about ten seconds of waiting for the dust cloud of the rather impressive spectacle to clear, a rather confused-looking Gatrie was all that was left in it's wake.

"OH, COME ON!" Gatrie shouted down the street in the direction of the mob. "The one time I get lucky, and a parade from the depths of some child's imagination has to come and take my prize away!" Gatrie let out a sigh that was audible from the tavern's door; after about ten seconds of watching him mutter swears to himself and sulk, Shinon went out to console him.

"Well . . . " Oscar started, too confused to immediately form the rest of his sentence. "That was . . . curious."

Indeed, my green-headed friend. Indeed it was.

_Yes, quite._

Wait, Zen, you didn't know that was coming?

_Hello again to you too, Matt. And yes, I did, I just needed a casual way to start a conversation about it._

Isn't that just like you? . . . Okay, what do you want me to know?

_You just ran into your first fellow foreign refugees, that's what._

Oh . . . interesting . . .

_You might consider tracking them down later on and acquiring their services. Establish your common ground, and you'll more likely than not earn their trust quicker than others on the continent will._

. . . If I knew how, I would.

_There's nothing to it. You're going to be hanging out with the protagonist of the story for it's duration. Strange characters seem to be drawn to him. Believe me, you'll be seeing those two again soon. Maybe even sooner than I'm letting on._

Guess you have a point.

"Matt!"

An open palm struck the side of my face, returning my attention to Gatrie's face, which had traveled from the end of the street to a couple feet in front of mine in the span of my conversation with Zen.

"We're heading out in an hour or so, rook. You want anything to eat or drink?"

Shaking the thoughts of Gaius and the mage from my head, I nodded and followed Gatrie to the counter, where I sat between him and Oscar. When the bartender took our orders, all of which were being covered by the proceeds from my pants, I asked for the house soup and a small mug of ale, which paled in comparison to the size which Gatrie and Shinon both ordered. I initially choked on the drink, but Shinon insisted that hard drinks were an acquired taste and that I shouldn't give up on developing his drinking habits so early. We enjoyed burning the time we had left, with Shinon and Gatrie turning run-of-the-mill card games from a deck Oscar had brought into drinking games: their way of force-feeding me my drink. Eventually, I downed the entire mug, after which I promptly inhaled the cheese and potato soup I had saved specifically to remove the alcohol's taste from my mouth. An inebriated Shinon congratulated me on my first hard drink from his position on Oscar's shoulder as we otherwise quietly headed back to the north stable.

As Oscar slowly led the carriage out of the castle town and back on the road to the fort, a couple of knocked-out mercenaries in the back and a setting sun in the sky, I thought I heard a noise coming from under the bridge. Not wanting to cause any alarm to Oscar, I quietly jumped out of the carriage and went to investigate. Subtly, as to not attract the attention of the guards, I slid down the the far side of the moat, putting myself in a small pool of mud next to the moat's wall, where I was subsequently tackled by an unknown figure into the bridge's shadow.

"Shhhh . . . " the figure, which I now identified as Gaius, said to me. Not removing his weight from my chest, I put my hands up submissively, hoping to draw at least a slightly friendlier reaction.

"I don't know why I can't just kill him" a person who must've been the mage muttered from behind me.

"Shouldn't you guys be long gone by now?" I asked, knowing the answer and hoping it would seamlessly lead the conversation into the direction I was hoping for. Both men sighed sheepishly in initial response.

"Well, yes, but we sort of have a problem . . . " Gaius started, trying to pick his words carefully.

"We have no idea where we are or where we're going!" the mage too-enthusiastically finished.

Bingo. Now to set the bait.

"I see . . . and what if I told you that I could help you guys with that problem?" I asked. Gaius, despite my not clearly being able to see him, visibly perked up at the offer. The mage muttered something along the lines of "Good thing we didn't kill him".

"I'm listening, Dandy" Gaius answered, clearly hopeful but his voice not giving it away.

'Dandy'? Oh well, so far, so good.

"All right. Now, I can't do anything directly, but I can give you guys a reference. Head northwest" I started, pointing my arm in the appropriate direction. "Find a port called Toha, and ask for a shipmaster named Nasir. Tell him that Matt Wilson sent you and you need refuge. He'll take you in, I guarantee it."

Gaius nodded, smiling wide, before asking "So what's your connection to this Nasir character?"

"Our group did him a good turn a while back, and I happen to be on a short list of his friends" I answered matter-of-factly.

Gaius nodded again, while the mage let out a sinister laugh. "I guess we owe you one then, Dandy. Even if we don't find this guy, your reference is more than we've run into since crashing here. So what's your bargain?"

I didn't really want or expect something in return, but I wasn't about to let the opportunity slip past. Turning my attention to the mage, I asked "Hey 'Crows', what's your real name?"

"Oh, my name's Henry" the mage answered in the calmest tone I had heard him use to that point. "I guess you know why Gaius took to calling me 'Crows' now, don't you?" He gestured across the moat to the far cliff, where I just noticed about twenty ravens were camped out. "But I'm good with all animals though, as you saw earlier." He gestured again to the stray puppy in his lap. Amazing how many things you overlook when an armed thief is sitting on your chest. Which brought me to my second trivial request.

"You could start by getting off my chest, Gaius."

"Wow, Dandy, you really do drive a hard bargain, don't you?" he said sarcastically as he stood up and backed away slightly. I stood up as well, trying to ignore the mud on my back as I composed my third and legitimate request.

"Alright Gaius, the actual condition is pretty simple." The thief's interest was once again piqued. "Suffice to say, when I next see Nasir, it'll be under much different circumstances. I'll probably be needing you guys' assistance. Be there when I need you, and you guys won't be lost in this world for long." Suddenly remembering Oscar's carriage, I rushed to leave the moat. As I was climbing out of the ditch, I felt a hand around my ankle; looking down I saw that Gaius wasn't letting me leave.

"Is there anything else you need, friend?" I asked, desperately wanting to get away.

"Are your friends still here, Dandy?" I looked down the road from the edge of the moat; my eyes couldn't locate the carriage. I shook my head down to Gaius. "Crows can help you out with that."

Henry, who'd somehow managed to get in front of me, pulled me up out of the moat.

"Don't ask questions" he calmly but sternly commanded. "Just let me work my magic." He led me by the hand to the road, his new puppy friend in his other arm, where he proceeded to start dragging me down in the direction Oscar had left. "To wing, my friends!" he yelled. Just like before, the boy and I were swarmed with ravens, but unlike before I noticed a dark bubble forming around us. Apparently sensing my tension, Henry repeated "don't ask questions" out loud, before the bubble thickened to the point where I could only see darkness and hear the sound of cawing crows. Moments later, the bubble dissipated, and I was sitting in the carriage, Henry still by my side.

"What in Ashera's name-" I heard Oscar yell from the front of the carriage.

"Take care, my friend!" Henry said before leaping from the back of the carriage. The mage re-concealed himself in his magic bubble mid-air before the bubble disappeared completely, leaving the mob of crows speeding down the road as the only indication of his position.

"Well . . . " I started, partly in shock at what just happened and partly trying to feign innocence to Oscar. "That was . . . interesting."

"Yes, it truly was" Oscar responded slowly, likely still doubting if what had just happened was real. "Did that . . . strange child wake you up, Matt? I didn't notice you stirring before."

Perfect. No alibi needed.

"Yeah, I guess he did" I lied, and followed with a loud yawn. I didn't have to try very hard to fake the yawn: the day had honestly been tiring enough that I could've knocked out by now. "Oh well, I guess I may as well try to catch some more shut-eye now."

"You should, Matt. It's been a long day. The sun's already down, and we're still maybe an hour away from the fort."

Looking up into the sky, it was obvious now that Oscar had covered a lot of distance while I was occupied with Gaius and Henry, and Henry mustn't have been moving much faster than the carriage with how much time was apparently wrapped up in catching up. Feeling sincerely tired, I checked the time (9:49) on my phone, turned it back off and tried to sleep. Curled up against the wall near the back of the carriage, I felt an intangible sensation.

_That would be me, Matt._

I think that's the first time I've noticed your presence coming in, isn't it?

_Your 'Zen' senses are becoming more acute with practice. Anyway, so how'd you enjoy your day on the town?_

. . . Wait, you're asking me for my thoughts and feelings about something? What's up?

_Nothing, just being a nice spirit. Clearly you're not going to sleep quite yet._

Well, thanks I guess. It was fine; the new stuff all fits nicely. I think I'm ready to hit the battlefield tomorrow.

_I don't doubt it. I apologize for throwing you into the character transition process before giving you proper explanation. Are there any questions you have about your new self?_

I'll have to think about that. Honestly, I don't feel so different from my old self now. Not as much as just after the level-up.

_That's good. You'll be assimilated quickly in that case._

Great. Does that mean I'll have an instant impact in the battle tomorrow?

_That's doubtful. You may be a combatant now, but this world isn't so far removed from your own in the sense of basic logic. You'll be coddled, just as any scrub would be. You're still going to have to take opportunities for XP opportunistically, because the company certainly won't let you chase them._

Damn. . . I guess that's logical, but it's still disappointing.

_You'll just have to get better with your weapon and prove yourself to them when you're strong enough._

Speaking of which, I have my first question. So about the weapon levels . . .

_It's not as restrictive of a system as you may think. Realistically, you won't be stuck with entry-level weapons, you'll just be more comfortable in them. The trainer you used earlier today was an 'E' level weapon, which is why it felt so natural to you. Higher-level swords will be a challenge to you, as will weapons outside of your class specifications, but that's certainly not to say you couldn't use them if you wanted to. They'll just be difficult for you._

Fair enough. How difficult are we talking?

_That depends on the specific case. You should be fine with the iron sword for your opportunism until you can use it legitimately, but you'd just break a silver one in half if you tried to swing it._

Really?

_Honestly. And if you were to pick up Ragnell or Alondite, you'd be lucky to get them to perform at the level of an effective fruit knife._

Good to know, I guess.

_Now you're tired. I'll leave you be. Good night, Matt._

I would've put up some argument about how I wasn't tired, or how I didn't want to be a burden at the end of the ride, or how I still had more questions, but all of those would've been untrue. Besides, the bugger left as soon as his last words left his spiritual mouth. I stayed up for a few more minutes, if only for lack of a comfortable place in the carriage to rest, but eventually my sheer tiredness overwhelmed my thoughts and sleep overtook me. My last thoughts bounced between beer, crows and wyvern jerky, before they converted to a bizarre mash-up of the three in my dreams.

* * *

AN: I can't emphasize enough how mad I am with myself about how late this chapter was. Sure, it was a lot harder to write than I initially thought, what with not simply paraphrasing and interjecting myself into a predetermined plot, but I shouldn't have taken a month and a half to do this regardless. You know the spot toward the top of the chapter, where it references the date as July 4th? I had to change that date 5 times, seeing as June 1st, 7th, 16th, 27th, or June 1st wouldn't really look good now. Settling on the 4th was just a way to compromise with reality and maintaining some integrity while also presenting a small opportunity for an Independence Day reference. By the way, for those of you who're American, I hope you had a great 4th of July.

Anyway, if you don't know Gaius and Henry, they're both characters from Fire Emblem: Awakening. In the time it took me to finish this chapter, I've played through that game twice. I liked those two the best out of the character pool, and I really would've liked for them to have a support conversation chain, so I put them together as the first OCs in this this story. For those of you who did know them, I hope they didn't stray too much from their personalities here.

I hope this chapter compensated in quality for what it cost in the long-ass time I took making it. There were at least 3 times I scrapped everything following the battle with Boyd because it didn't sound legitimate. I also heavily debated whether to throw the whole class/stats/level-up angle in there, although I really don't plan on that system being prevalent down the road. Just an excuse for an oddball character or two to periodically reference it. Besides, master seals are a real game item, and I was looking forward to writing the scene when Matt watches one be used for the first time. As for iron swords being D rated in the system, the tactician class, and other things I'll be incorporating further down the line? I'm using a cross-system between the vast one used in Radiant Dawn and the most recent one used in Awakening. Bottom line: if you think the game regulations sounds restrictive, unrealistic, or just straight-up dumb, I'll be doing everything I can to make them the exact opposite.

By the way, on a positive note, I managed to get a proofreader! Which means I won't be coming back to fix my atrocious mess after reading the first wave of reviews! Not that I didn't enjoy that or anything, but it'll be nice to not have to worry about that. Of course, if you guys see any errors, it would still be much appreciated to hear about them in a review. I'll just be surprised and a lot more embarrassed when I see them.

Anyway, once again, thank you for reading. I sincerely hope that each of you review. Constructive criticism is best, compliments are appreciated for the inflation they bring to my ego, and I'll endure flames if I think they make a valid point. I'll be seeing you guys again for Chapter 4, hopefully up by the end of the month (although you guys know what to expect from my commitment at this point). That aside, thanks again!


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